Kinmen County councilors have launched an initiative to turn the islands into a demilitarized zone.
On Monday, two groups — a cross-party alliance and a group of independent councilors — called for the removal of military personnel and installations from the county as part of a wider effort to promote cross-strait peace.
The groups called for closer ties with Xiamen, including pushing for the construction of a bridge linking Kinmen and the Chinese city.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
Independent Kinmen Councilor Chen Yang-hu (陳泱瑚), who leads the cross-party alliance, said that rising tensions between Taiwan and China, and China and the US, has made Kinmen residents nervous.
“Do not let history repeat,” Chen said, referring to Kinmen’s experiences on the front line during the Chinese Civil War.
Kinmen, which lies about 10km east of Xiamen in China’s Fujian Province, was heavily shelled during the two Taiwan Strait crises in the 1950s amid military confrontations between Taiwan and China.
At the height of the conflict, 120,000 Taiwanese soldiers were garrisoned in the then-heavily fortified county.
Kinmen could not afford to be drawn into a new cross-strait military conflict after most military forces were withdrawn from the islands to Taiwan proper amid warming cross-strait relations early this century, Chen said.
Many councilors hope that through the two alliances, local residents’ voices would be heard by the leaders on both sides, he said.
Local residents have reached a “consensus” that no wars should happen in Kinmen, a state of affairs that prompted the formation of the two political alliances at the county council, he said.
Once Kinmen is demarcated as a demilitarized zone, its current garrison of about 2,000 soldiers should be replaced with a coastal patrol or police force, Chen said.
Moreover, Kinmen could serve as a location for dialogue and meetings between Taiwan and China, he said.
In addition to the demilitarizing initiative, Chen said that the two alliances also endorse construction of a bridge linking Kinmen and Xiamen, and the development of a Kinmen-Xiamen special economic zone to help boost Kinmen’s development.
However, a bridge would not be possible unless the two sides establish peaceful relations, he said, adding that the special lifestyle shared by residents of Kinmen and Xiamen should be maintained to boost the local economy and sustain development.
Separately, former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德), who has spent decades promoting a proposal to turn Kinmen and Lienchiang counties into a buffer zone, on Tuesday said he was pleased with the Kinmen councilors’ initiative and was willing to meet with representatives in Kinmen to elaborate on his vision.
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