Pointing at Xiamen’s skyscrapers in China, across the water from his office, Chen Tsang-chiang (陳滄江) recalled how 30 years ago the southern Chinese city was as low-slung as Kinmen County.
In the following decades, the 68-year-old former politician watched the metropolis of 5 million people rise, while Kinmen’s forests, sorghum fields and villages saw little change.
What the county, which is about 5km off China’s coast, needs is a bridge to Xiamen, “a connection to an economic lifeline,” Chen says.
Photo: CNA
However, the proposed bridge has become a flashpoint ahead of Saturday’s presidential and legislative elections, drawing leaders from all major parties to the county to speak about its construction or national security. It strikes at the heart of the most important question voters will be answering in the polls: How should Taiwan relate to China?
Kinmen is a stronghold for the main opposition party the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Like many in Kinmen, Chen sees China as the key to development and he said residents should be able to vote on the proposed bridge.
“Must this 151km2 small island, with tens of thousands of people, forever be a chess piece for both sides of the strait?” he asked. “Do we not have a voice?”
For Taiwan, Kinmen is the front line of democracy and the closest point to China where its electors are to cast ballots. For China, Kinmen is a litmus test for its ability to bring Taiwan under Beijing’s control and a prime target in its charm offensive.
In September last year, China unveiled its most comprehensive blueprint yet for cross-strait integration, featuring stronger transport, energy and business links between Xiamen and Kinmen. A Chinese official in November last year said that construction on the Xiamen side of a bridge that could connect to Kinmen had begun.
New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the KMT’s presidential candidate, vowed to hold a local referendum on the bridge, saying he would build “the most important symbol of cross-strait peace” if residents wanted it.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, through the Mainland Affairs Council, dismissed Beijing’s proposals as “wishful thinking” and a futile attempt to win over Taiwanese with economic incentives. The council called the bridge “a Trojan horse carrying tremendous national security risks.”
China said “reunification” with Taiwan is inevitable and it has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control.
China has taken particular exception to the DPP’s presidential candidate, Vice President William Lai (賴清德), saying he is a dangerous separatist.
Lai has said he would maintain the “status quo” and that only Taiwanese can decide their future.
The KMT also said Taiwan’s 23 million people should decide their future, although it strongly opposes independence.
Some of about two dozen Kinmen residents interviewed for this story welcome the bridge as a sign that Taipei and Beijing could work together, a driver of growth, or a way to travel unconstrained by the ferry schedule.
Others, especially younger voters, fear it would usher in unwanted investment and erode the political freedoms Kinmen enjoys as part of Taiwan. Many from this growing group identify as Taiwanese rather than Chinese and want to promote Kinmen’s culture and rely less on China for economic opportunities.
One of them is bookstore owner Weng Yu-wen, 34. She was part of the 22 percent in Kinmen who in 2020 voted for the DPP’s candidate, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), as the party nearly tripled its support in the county in the 2012 poll.
Plastered on the wall of Weng’s bookstore is a poster that says: “Youth return to your hometown to vote for a better future.”
The shelves are lined with social and political books, including one titled What is Democracy?
As is common for Kinmen’s younger generation, Weng studied and worked on Taiwan proper before returning. She said she hopes her books and events will spark discussion of public affairs.
When the ferries stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic, “we could very clearly feel that we are indeed two different countries,” Weng said.
Before that, residents often took the ferry to Xiamen — where many have property, business, or family — for entertainment or grocery shopping.
The frequency is natural given geographic proximity and historical ties, Weng said, but she worries that a bridge would further blur the boundary between their political systems.
“If Kinmen grows closer to mainland China, would this still be a place where I want to live?” she asked. “Why does it seem like there is only one possibility for development?”
Kinmen residents once made their living serving the tens of thousands of Taiwanese soldiers stationed here until martial law was lifted in 1992. In 2001, the establishment of a 30-minute ferry service between Kinmen and Xiamen marked the beginning of the county transforming into a magnet for Chinese tourists.
From Kinmen’s northern coast, cranes constructing a massive airport to serve Xiamen are visible. The most likely bridge route would connect Kinmen to Xiamen via this airport, Deputy Kinmen Mayor Li Wen-liang (李文良) said.
He estimated it would extend up to 8km and cost more than US$322 million.
The prospect of greater cross-strait integration spurred Taiwanese investors to buy most of the 118 units in Kinmen’s first serviced apartment building, said Henry Lee, general manager at Chiau-Mau Realty, which has overseen sales.
Advertisements for the building — which opened one year after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in 2019 outlined his vision for “integrated development” — show higher property prices in Xiamen than in Kinmen.
“If people can enter, money can enter,” reads one brochure featuring a map of the proposed bridge.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
Passengers on Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) will be required to use headphones and make phone calls in gangways under new “quiet travel” rules starting Sept. 22. THSR Chairman Shih Che (史哲) told media that THSR will run a three-month promotional campaign to ensure widespread adoption of the new rules. Those repeatedly ignoring the guidance face the potential termination of their transport contract, which can result in them getting escorted off the train, according to THSR. Shih shared his hope to cultivate an environment conducive to rest and reading for the train’s passengers, stating that these changes aim to “promote self-discipline” among passengers
RSS