Cross-straits residents believe peace and friendly discourse are the best way forward to avoid conflict.
By\u00a0Isa He in Tokyo and Xiamen\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Born in Taiwan and raised in Mainland China, Raco Cao* is caught in between, as tension grows in the cross-straits relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy home might be bombed. My flat might be flattened. Now, I have a home in Taiwan and another in Xiamen. But if a war breaks out, I will be homeless,\u201d the university student studying in Xiamen, says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf I return to Taiwan, I must join the conscription. Soldiers must follow orders. I do not have any choice. Or else I could be sentenced up to five years in prison, and may also be restricted from leaving the country, wanted for arrest, and have a criminal record,\u201d Cao says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn case of war, I won\u2019t do anything heroic. I might be the first to run away from the battlefield or move to another country, because I\u2019m not a brave person,\u201d the 21-year-old student adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His family shares his worries and concerns. \u201cAn uncle has warned me to move to another country to avoid being conscripted in Taiwan, as my family thinks survival matters more than politics,\u201d Cao says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy family is just being very pessimistic, and I agree. It means I cannot stay in Taichung, my birthplace, or in Xiamen, where I grew up. That means I have nowhere to go,\u201d he says with a wry smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cao believes that engaging in sincere dialogue and candid exchange is the way out. \u201cMany in Taiwan are sceptical about China. But what the media presents is often a one-sided picture. After living in Xiamen, I think people here are actually very kind. If there were more opportunities for exchange, fear would subside,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Citing Kinmen as an example, Cao believes it is the key point for people from both sides to learn and get to know each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnder the mini-three link policy, Kinmen has become a contact point of communication. Now, it\u2019s just a half-hour boat ride from Kinmen to Xiamen. Once people visit each other and interact, they realize we are not so different. What we really need is not political ideology, but to live well in peace,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2001, Taiwan introduced the mini-three links policy, which allowed direct trade, transport, and postal connections between Taiwan\u2019s offshore islets of Matsu and Kinmen and the mainland cities of Xiamen, Quanzhou, and Fuzhou. It resumed in early 2023 after both sides lifted Covid-19 restrictions, allowing Taiwanese residents, their mainland spouses and children, and mainland Chinese students studying in Taiwan to use ferry services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cao\u2019s close friend, Lin Su*, a Mainland Chinese, shares his fear and worries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI surely feel worried if my friend has to join the army. He is not physically fit, and war is cruel. I fear that something terrible might happen to him,\u201d the 20-year-old Xiamen native says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She admits that if a war were to break out, she would hope Cao could stay away from fighting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019d try to persuade him not to participate or even persuade him to take the Mainland side\u2014after all, that\u2019s where he\u2019s lived most of his life,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Growing up in Xiamen, Lin says that most locals treat the talk of war as distant and unrealistic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople discuss it, but no one really thinks it will happen. My family sometimes talks about it, but we don\u2019t stock up on food or anything. It feels like something that exists only in the news,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lin also finds online discussion about Taiwan is quite far from the truth from her own experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn social media platforms, people are calling for war, but in reality, most people are calm. The internet only amplifies the loudest voices,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Xiamen University, Lin is currently enrolled in a course offered by the Graduate Institute for Taiwan Studies, one of the few tertiary institutions that offers such kinds of programme in Mainland China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have classes on Taiwan\u2019s politics, culture, and daily life. My course is about Taiwan\u2019s social life\u2014it covers politics, history, and even food. There are also several professors from Taiwan teaching in this programme,\u201d the Year Three student says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMost of my classmates had little knowledge of Taiwan\u2019s politics or history before taking this course. But after attending the lectures and discussions, they have become more aware of the complexity of cross-strait relations and differences between life in Taiwan and what they used to think of the island. Some even want to visit Taiwan so that they can have more exchanges with young people there,\u201d Lin adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She believes this proximity\u2014both geographical and academic\u2014makes Xiamen a unique bridge between the two sides. \u201cBecause we\u2019re so close, we can study and understand Taiwan better. It\u2019s much easier to do real research in Fujian than any other province in China,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just hope there won\u2019t be a war. Peace is the best\u2014and maybe one day I hope I can finally visit Taiwan as a tourist,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other side of the strait, Wang Ling*, who was born in Kinmen and grew up with memories of war, also shared their call for peace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWar brings no winners. It only means casualties on both sides. I hope leaders show care for the lives of ordinary people so that tragedy will not be repeated. Whether in Kinmen or Xiamen, no one wants to hear the sound of artillery again,\u201d Wang, a tour guide who also runs a business that curates exhibitions and conducts projects to preserve Kinmen\u2019s heritage and history, says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Born in 1985, Wang recalls that houses, ancestral halls, and even temples were once occupied for military use in Kinmen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe troops did not have barracks, so they slept at villagers\u2019 homes. Ancestral halls and temples were turned into offices and logistics rooms. Some altars were removed to make space,\u201d she says, adding that no compensation was offered to residents affected by those arrangements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wang says stories of artillery have been shared for generations in families. After 1949, Kinmen became a heavily militarized area. In 1958, during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, known locally as the \u201c823 Artillery Bombardment\u201d, the People\u2019s Liberation Army of China fired nearly half a million shells over 44 days, and occasional shelling continued until 1979. Martial law was not lifted until 1992. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut a lot of Kinmen people now think conflict will not happen again, because more than two decades of direct links with Xiamen have made the two sides understand each other more,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe economy here depends on tourism. If there were fighting, the tourism industry would suffer badly. That is something no one wants to see,\u201d she adds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wang believes people from both sides want mutual understanding rather than confrontation. \u201cDistance once made the other side seem so distant. Now, people can meet and trade. Communication is the key to avoiding conflict,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*Names changed at interviewees’ request<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Photo courtesy of Lin Su*)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Edited by Myo Min Htin<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sub-edited by Daniel Paek<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cross-straits residents believe peace and friendly discourse are the best way forward to avoid conflict. By\u00a0Isa He in Tokyo and Xiamen\u00a0 Born in Taiwan and raised in Mainland China, Raco Cao* is caught in between, as tension grows in the cross-straits relations. \u201cMy home might be bombed. My flat might be flattened. Now, I have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":25853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[245,2305,2307,2229,102,1958,2306],"class_list":["post-25848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-community","tag-china","tag-cross-straits-relations","tag-link","tag-peace","tag-taiwan","tag-war","tag-young-generation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25848"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25862,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25848\/revisions\/25862"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}