“NOT AFRAID”
While the Kinmen Islands once served as a natural barrier to invasion, Beijing can now easily bypass them with its superpower armoury of missiles, jets and aircraft carriers.
Car rental worker Yang thinks “the disparity in military strength is usually far too great”, making Taiwan with little hope of beating back a Chinese language onslaught, especially provided Kinmen’s size plus proximity to the landmass.
“I would not want to go to the battleground since there would be simply no chance of winning, inch he said.
James Chen, an 18-year-old student who may be one of the few of his age not to have remaining to study or work in Taiwan’s cities, mentioned fighting should be remaining to professional troops.
“I think there is a 50-50 possibility of China using pressure against Taiwan, but we have no control over China, we should just be ourselves. ”
That means life is completely carrying on since normal in Kinmen.
Residents are certainly not rushing for the bunkers to hide or supermarkets to stockpile, but instead singing karaoke in your own home and dining out along with friends.
Since 73-year-old Cheng Hsiu-hua played card games with her neighbours outdoors their homes in one of Kinmen’s quiet streets, she cleaned off the possibility of Chinese troops one day getting on their shores.
“No, we are not really afraid. They (Chinese troops) won’t come over here, ” she said.
In case Beijing did bring arms to bear, the elderly Yang says he’d rather accept tranquil reunification than conflict.
So he or she offers a message to the Chinese government : one learned in the legacy of the bombardment he saw together with his own eyes years ago.
“Don’t go to war. War brings suffering plus misery, ” he said.
“There will be death to both sides. ”