By Lee Seong-hyon
When boarding a C-130 military cargo plane, do as Tom Cruise does. Enter from the rear paratrooper door, as seen in Mission Impossible. This time, the mission is an hour's flight away from Taipei's Songshan airbase. The destination? Taiwan's DMZ.
The island of Kinmen (or Quemoy) is Taiwan's DMZ. Nobody here calls it that. But that's what I would call it. For me, there was no better way to describe it. This is the closest place in Taiwan to China. Located only 2km off China's coast, it faces the Chinese city of Xiamen.
Just like the DMZ, Kinmen is a symbol of a decades-long Cold War standoff between Taiwan and China. During the two Taiwan Strait Crises, the island was hit by shells, like rain drops from the sky. Even today, one can see barricades placed on beaches, artillery hidden on hillsides. Just like the DMZ, there are restricted areas.
Just like the DMZ, there are massive tunnels underground. Just like the DMZ, there are walls of loudspeakers here. Just like in the DMZ, one would feel the presence of fallen spirits amidst the sound of the wind.
As our C-130 approached the island, a foreign visitor in my group who had previously been to the island gently warned the group to turn off the Wi-Fi network function in our mobile phones, and not to use the free mainland Wi-Fi signals. (Due to geographical proximity, China's Wi-Fi signals are receivable here).
He explained that his phone was compromised when he linked his phone to a free Wi-Fi network signal from the mainland. Some of us followed his advice. If there were another cross-strait conflict, this place will the one that will bear the brunt of it.
The name Kinmen means "golden gate" in Chinese, underscoring its strategic location. Today, mainlanders still come here in swarms, as tourists. One of their favorite photo-op spots is a cave with a long artillery cannon that was used during the past crises.
The artillery shells that once whistled through the skies above Kinmen are now used to make the island's famous kitchen knives.
Just like the DMZ, there are many battle stories here such as "the 823 Artillery Bombardment" or "the Tatan and Ertan battle." Just like some people in South Korea wish to transform the DMZ into a peace park, residents here want the island to become a "memorial park of the Cold War."
In 2001, as the tensions thawed between Taiwan and China, passenger and trade began between Kinmen and Xiamen. In 2008, the "Three Links" (direct air, sea and postal links to the mainland) from all over Taiwan were opened up. Kinmen later cleared its beaches of landmines too.
Today, over 40 daily ferries make the half-hour journey between Kinmen and Xiamen. The island's population has surged. It even opened a water pipeline which supplies fresh water from the mainland province of Fujian.
Tourists from the mainland China come here not just to reminisce old battle memories. But there is something more. Kinmen's Kaoliang! It is a distilled liquor made from fermented sorghum. Kinmen's Kaoliang is perhaps more well-known than the island's war history.
The Kinmen Kaoliang liquor is so famous that today it is the main engine of the island's economy. When this author's group visited the Kinmen Kaoliang factory, we were served with different Kaoliang samples. This author tasted all of them ― for research purposes. Sometimes more than once ― for research purposes only.
Another one-hour flight took me back to Taipei. As I was exiting the military base of Songshan airport, I saw a "China Air" plane parked nearby. (Songshan has both a military base and a commercial airport). Even though China and Taiwan's relationship sometimes undergoes tense moments, and even though there is sometimes a war rhetoric used, I realized they have come this closer to each other. The economies, transportation, and people of Taiwan and China are significantly integrated in real life. That's something absent in the two Koreas' relationship. That's something Koreans need to emulate.
For South Korea, if it wants a role model to learn how to integrate inter-Korean transportation, the economy, and people exchanges, or just simply wants to observe how the whole thing is done in a real-life situation, Taiwan's Kinmen could certainly be a good reference. It's a worthwhile place for a study tour. And when you go there, make sure you taste the Kinmen Kaoliang samples ― for research.
Lee Seong-hyon (sunnybbsfs@gmail.com), Ph.D., is director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the Sejong Institute.
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The island of Kinmen (or Quemoy) is Taiwan's DMZ. Nobody here calls it that. But that's what I would call it. For me, there was no better way to describe it. This is the closest place in Taiwan to China. Located only 2km off China's coast, it faces the Chinese city of Xiamen.
Just like the DMZ, Kinmen is a symbol of a decades-long Cold War standoff between Taiwan and China. During the two Taiwan Strait Crises, the island was hit by shells, like rain drops from the sky. Even today, one can see barricades placed on beaches, artillery hidden on hillsides. Just like the DMZ, there are restricted areas.
Just like the DMZ, there are massive tunnels underground. Just like the DMZ, there are walls of loudspeakers here. Just like in the DMZ, one would feel the presence of fallen spirits amidst the sound of the wind.
As our C-130 approached the island, a foreign visitor in my group who had previously been to the island gently warned the group to turn off the Wi-Fi network function in our mobile phones, and not to use the free mainland Wi-Fi signals. (Due to geographical proximity, China's Wi-Fi signals are receivable here).
He explained that his phone was compromised when he linked his phone to a free Wi-Fi network signal from the mainland. Some of us followed his advice. If there were another cross-strait conflict, this place will the one that will bear the brunt of it.
The name Kinmen means "golden gate" in Chinese, underscoring its strategic location. Today, mainlanders still come here in swarms, as tourists. One of their favorite photo-op spots is a cave with a long artillery cannon that was used during the past crises.
The artillery shells that once whistled through the skies above Kinmen are now used to make the island's famous kitchen knives.
Just like the DMZ, there are many battle stories here such as "the 823 Artillery Bombardment" or "the Tatan and Ertan battle." Just like some people in South Korea wish to transform the DMZ into a peace park, residents here want the island to become a "memorial park of the Cold War."
In 2001, as the tensions thawed between Taiwan and China, passenger and trade began between Kinmen and Xiamen. In 2008, the "Three Links" (direct air, sea and postal links to the mainland) from all over Taiwan were opened up. Kinmen later cleared its beaches of landmines too.
Today, over 40 daily ferries make the half-hour journey between Kinmen and Xiamen. The island's population has surged. It even opened a water pipeline which supplies fresh water from the mainland province of Fujian.
Tourists from the mainland China come here not just to reminisce old battle memories. But there is something more. Kinmen's Kaoliang! It is a distilled liquor made from fermented sorghum. Kinmen's Kaoliang is perhaps more well-known than the island's war history.
The Kinmen Kaoliang liquor is so famous that today it is the main engine of the island's economy. When this author's group visited the Kinmen Kaoliang factory, we were served with different Kaoliang samples. This author tasted all of them ― for research purposes. Sometimes more than once ― for research purposes only.
Another one-hour flight took me back to Taipei. As I was exiting the military base of Songshan airport, I saw a "China Air" plane parked nearby. (Songshan has both a military base and a commercial airport). Even though China and Taiwan's relationship sometimes undergoes tense moments, and even though there is sometimes a war rhetoric used, I realized they have come this closer to each other. The economies, transportation, and people of Taiwan and China are significantly integrated in real life. That's something absent in the two Koreas' relationship. That's something Koreans need to emulate.
For South Korea, if it wants a role model to learn how to integrate inter-Korean transportation, the economy, and people exchanges, or just simply wants to observe how the whole thing is done in a real-life situation, Taiwan's Kinmen could certainly be a good reference. It's a worthwhile place for a study tour. And when you go there, make sure you taste the Kinmen Kaoliang samples ― for research.
Lee Seong-hyon (sunnybbsfs@gmail.com), Ph.D., is director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the Sejong Institute.
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