Kinmen: The Taiwanese islands next to China
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2023
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sitting just a few kilometres away from mainland China, the tiny Kinmen islands are in an unusual situation.
Beijing says they and Taiwan are a part of China, they're a breakaway province, and it wants them back, by force if necessary.
As tensions rise, Ed Butler visits Kinmen to discover how this most exposed population feels about Beijing's claim - and hear about plans to build a bridge to connect the islands with the Chinese mainland.
Produced and presented by Ed Butler.
(Image: A beach on Kinmen Island, with sea defences)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Global Story, with smart takes and fresh perspectives on one big news story, every Monday to Friday from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:11.5 | Search for The Global Story, wherever you get your BBC podcasts, to find out more. |
| 0:28.3 | So here it is. Welcome to BBC World Service and Business Daily. My name's Ed Butler. |
| 0:40.0 | I feel like I'm standing in the centre of some global political incident and yet it's the sleepiest place you can imagine. I'm on the beach now and one of the Kinmen Islands to tiny Taiwanese outposts just three kilometres from China. And I'm looking |
| 0:52.1 | out at the high-rise buildings of Shaaman, which is a big Chinese city, |
| 0:57.7 | just across the water. Culturally, historically, historically, these two territories are very |
| 1:04.1 | tightly connected. Politically, it feels like they couldn't be further apart right now. |
| 1:13.0 | China has carried out what it says is a mock air blockade of Taiwan using jets carrying live ammunition in the latest escalation of tensions in the South China Sea. |
| 1:24.2 | The U.S. has sent a destroyer to the area. |
| 1:26.1 | Tonight, new video showing the moments a Chinese warship seen on the left here came within |
| 1:31.3 | 150 yards of an American destroyer in the Taiwan Strait, shot by a Canadian news outlet |
| 1:37.3 | traveling aboard. |
| 1:38.2 | Taiwan's foreign minister is acutely aware of the risks. |
| 1:42.0 | The situation is getting worse, and we need to prepare for the worst possible scenario. |
| 1:50.8 | Along the beach here in Kinmen, |
| 1:53.2 | there is row after row of ancient spikes embedded in concrete |
| 1:59.0 | pointing out towards China, a warning against any potential invading |
| 2:04.5 | force you cannot enter. To the right of me, there are ancient gun emplacements. They've been |
| 2:11.4 | there since the 1950s when this place was at its most contested. Hordes of tourists gather you can hear them in the distance. |
| 2:19.4 | They're taking photographs of a huge heart sign saying, |
| 2:22.9 | I love Taiwan. |
| 2:24.7 | But of course, many Chinese across there on the other side of the water |
... |
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