Trouble in Taiwan?

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 November 2022

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

China’s President Xi Jinping says that Taiwan‘s reunification with the mainland “must and will be fulfilled.” The view from democratic Taiwan is somewhat different. It’s a threat the islanders have been hearing ever since the 1949 Chinese Civil War, when the Government of the Republic of China was forced to relocate to Taiwan allowing the Chinese Communist Party to establish a new Chinese state: the People’s Republic of China. But some sense that the increased rhetoric from China in recent months poses a real and present danger. Taiwanese billionaire Robert Tsao has pledged millions of pounds to train three million ‘civilian warriors’ in three years to defend the island should it be required. But will it come to that? John Murphy is in Taiwan to talk to people there about what they think about the threat from China and whether they’d be prepared to fight to protect what they have. Presenter: John Murphy Producer: Ben Carter Local producer and translator: Joanne Kuo Production Coordinator: Iona Hammond Sound Engineer: James Beard Series Editor: Penny Murphy

Transcript

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0:00.0	Woah, it's a bit windy and the sea is looking pretty rough.
0:08.2	Fortunately, it's a short 15 minute ferry crossing from the island of Kinmen right here
0:16.3	to Lil Kinmen.
0:18.6	And beyond Lil Kinmen, I can see the tall buildings of Shiamen City.
0:25.5	It's actually mainland China, communist China.
0:31.1	Welcome to assignment on the BBC World Service.
0:33.8	I'm John Murphy.
0:35.5	And we're over 300 kilometers from Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, but just 3 kilometers
0:42.6	from the people's Republic of China across the water.
0:46.7	This is the part of Taiwan closest to the Chinese mainland.
0:54.4	My injury came from the shelling from CCP, Chinese Communist Party.
1:01.5	I was a mid-level leader inside a military troop here on the Kinmen Islands.
1:07.7	And it's really odd that back then during odd number days there was shelling.
1:15.4	But when it's even number days, we had no shelling.
1:19.6	And at that point of time, when it happened, I was right inside the command center.
1:25.0	He's rubbing his hip and he's just showing his…
1:29.5	…to chop his arm, which looks somewhat misshapen.
1:33.6	My arm was broken, my hip was broken, my intestines were all out.
1:40.0	And I was in the hospital for a full year.
1:47.6	80-year-old Mr. Lin was born and raised here.
1:50.6	He was injured in 1975 when Chinese shelling of the Kinmen Islands was part of daily life.
1:57.7	As far back as 1949 during China's Civil War, the People's Liberation Army chased the
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