TAIWAN-CHINA Kinmen County calls for troop withdrawal to favor peace with Beijing

Administered by Taipei, the islands in the area lie 10 km from mainland China and almost 200 km from Taiwan. Local councilors consider that they are not defensible. They are calling for the troops to be replaced by police forces. The objective is to turn the town into a zone of détente and dialogue between the two parties in conflict.

Taipei () – Two groups of Kinmen county councillors, one inter-party and the other independent, are calling for the withdrawal of Taiwanese troops from their islands, on the border with China. Its goal is to create a demilitarized zone as part of a broader effort to promote peace across the Taiwan Strait.

As reported by Focus Taiwan, the two newly formed groups want to convey to the central government of Taipei the concerns of the local population, which feels threatened by a possible attack from China as tensions between Beijing and the Tsai Ing executive increase. -wen (US-backed).

Kinmen is administered by Taipei, but it is located 10 kilometers from Xiamen, in the Chinese province of Fujian and 187 km from the island of Taiwan. During the two crises in the 1950s it suffered heavy bombing by Chinese communist troops.

At the moment of maximum crisis, in the county there were 120,000 soldiers. Now there are 2,000 deployed. For the promoters of the demilitarization initiative, they are too few to face a possible Chinese attack, and at the same time Beijing considers them a provocation, because Taiwan would be a rebellious province that must be reconquered even by force.

Shih Ming-te, former chairman of Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party, believes Taipei should also withdraw its troops from the Matsu Islands, which are also closer to mainland China than to the island of Taiwan.

Kinmen councilors suggest replacing the troops with police and coast guard forces. They also ask that this area be transformed into a place where the two parties can meet for dialogue. To promote local economic development, the two groups of councilors are considering building a bridge to connect with Xiamen and developing a special economic zone with the Chinese city.

All these initiatives require peaceful relations between Beijing and Taipei in order to put them into practice. However, Fujian is heavily militarized and the reunification of Taiwan remains one of Xi Jinping’s main goals. Meanwhile, the Taiwanese continue to strengthen their defenses. Today it was announced that the Tsai administration has signed an $85.3 million deal with Washington for the maintenance of its F-16 fighter jets.