in the Kinmen Islands, very close to China, many want to believe in “peaceful reunification”

Just one month before the presidential election in Taiwan, the 100,000 inhabitants of the Kinmen archipelago know that they could find themselves on the front line in the event of an attack from China.

In just one month, on January 13, voters in Taiwan will go to the polls to elect a new president. An election which will take place against a backdrop of strong tensions between communist China and the independence authorities currently in power in Taiwan. And among those who will participate in this election, there are the 100,000 inhabitants of the Kinmen Islands, an archipelago which is administered by the Taiwanese government, but which has the particularity of being located only a few kilometers from Chinese territory.

On Kinmen beach, all the walkers have their eyes trained on the other side of the shore. Less than five kilometers away, the tall buildings of the Chinese city of Xiamen can be clearly seen. The Taiwanese army is installed a few dozen meters further on, on a small islet facing China. In recent months, Chinese drones have repeatedly flown over Kinmen but for this industrialist, Hang Ye, who works in the food industry, we should not be afraid of China: “The people of Kinmen know that if the mainland wants launch an attack, he will not target Kinmen, but directly Taiwan. We’re not really worried about that. For what is mainland China relatively friendly today with regard to our island ? Because the Chinese want show the Taiwanese that through Kinmen, a peaceful reunification is possible, with contacts between the two shores of the strait. That’s why it’s not really tense here.”

Kinmen is certainly administered by Taiwan, but we are very keen here to maintain ties with China, as this business leader explains, Cheng Sheng Xue: “We sincerely hope that the two sides of the Strait can be reunited peacefully. This is really what the population expects.” The separatists of the DPP, the party of the outgoing president of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen, have always had difficulty breaking through in Kinmen. Party activists are still present on the ground to campaign and, according to them, to warn about China’s interference in the electoral process. Lee Haolun, local representative of the DPP: “There are many groups from Kinmen who visit China and do exchanges. During the trips, it was noticed that Chinese officials took the opportunity to transmit messages to visitors to Kinmen, with the aim of influencing the electoral choices of the local population. Of course we are worried.“

Beyond politics, the residents of Kinmen think first of their daily lives. They hope that the result of the presidential election in Taiwan will ease tensions across the strait and thus perhaps allow the return of Chinese tourists, still prohibited from accessing Kinmen, a source of income which is sorely lacking.