What are the thoughts of the local people in Kinmen regarding China's construction of airports and bridges to advance waterways to Taiwan?

Kinmen is only five kilometers away from Xiamen City in Fujian Province. This small island off the coast of Taiwan covers an area of 150 square kilometers and has a population of about 140,000. The island's economy is primarily based on tourism and fishing. Kinmen has long been an important military defense base, with an estimated peak military presence of 140,000 personnel, which later decreased to around 3,000, but it remains crucial in the defense of the Taiwan Strait.

Due to its proximity to Fujian on the mainland, Kinmen has close commercial activities with Fujian. Since the opening up for tourism, tourists from the mainland have become the largest group of visitors to Kinmen. With the recent destruction of the underwater cable and the statements made by the Chinese government regarding military unification in Taiwan, what is the local residents' view on the current situation in the Taiwan Strait? A reporter from Japan's Asahi TV went to Kinmen to interview local councilors, entrepreneurs, and residents to ask their opinions on the current situation in the Taiwan Strait, and the answers received were quite divergent.

Kinmen councilors and entrepreneurs are optimistic about the economic development of one family.

Zhang Yunliang, an independent councilor from Kinmen County who was elected with the highest number of votes, stated that in the past, both sides of the Taiwan Strait would not overstep each other. However, recently, Chinese vessels have been continuously crossing the boundary and often claiming the territory belongs to them, which has led to increased pressure. When asked by reporters whether the Chinese Communist Party would use military force against Taiwan, Zhang Yunliang expressed that the interactions between both sides are close, and both Kinmen residents and Chinese people feel that they are part of one big family.

The Kinmen Distillery registered the subsidiary "Kinmen Distillery ( Xiamen ) Trading Co., Ltd." in Xiamen in 2004. The CEO of the Kinmen Distillery stated that performance in China has returned to pre-pandemic levels, and the distillery is signing contracts with new companies to actively expand into the mainland China market.

The Director of the National Defense Security Research Society, Su Ziyun, stated that this is a strategy that combines psychological warfare and economic warfare. It is better to buy a castle with force than to destroy it; China will achieve reunification through peaceful economic means.

The air raid shelters after the war still exist.

In 2016, China fired 470,000 shells at Kinmen, and Mr. Hsieh, a local guesthouse owner, recalls that each house was hit with dozens of holes. The villagers hid in the air raid shelters, and reporters from the Asahi Shimbun visited the shelters and interviewed Taiwanese university students who came to visit. They expressed that they still remember the residents hiding in the shelters for days to avoid being attacked and felt that everyone should cherish the current peace.

Kinmen residents believe the atmosphere has changed.

From Kinmen, it takes more than an hour by boat to see a small island across from Kinmen where a new airport is being constructed on reclaimed land. A lighthouse has also been built on the island, which was originally an abandoned garbage island. Now, the island is getting larger due to the reclamation, and China has also constructed a bridge connecting Kinmen and China. Once all the infrastructure is completed, this bridge will connect Qingjing and Kinmen Lighthouse Island, allowing for a travel time of only thirty minutes by road between Kinmen and China.

The local shop owner in Kinmen believes that welcoming Chinese tourists to come and spend is not the same as building a bridge that allows them to come directly. If there really were a bridge allowing passage between the two sides, Taiwan's security would be threatened, worsening the currently tense situation.

Every year's polls show that the majority of Taiwanese people want to maintain the status quo, yet there are still many who are eager to break the peaceful stance that the Taiwanese people desire, believing that unifying Taiwan by force is a matter of free speech and should not be interpreted as such.

This article discusses the thoughts of local people in Kinmen regarding the construction of airports and bridges in China, as well as the advancement of water routes towards Taiwan. It first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.