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Yuanyue Dang

On Quemoy Island, off the coast of Fujian province, people passing the statue of Chiang Kai-shek in the main residential area of Jincheng can see an inscription in Chinese characters: “Saviour of the Nation.”
In 2025, it is an oddity for Taiwanese and mainland Chinese alike.
In Taiwan, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has moved to erase Chiang Kai-shek’s legacy, with some viewing Chiang as a symbol of dictatorship and authoritarian rule, while on the mainland the man once seen as an enemy of the Communist Party is now a symbol of historical connection between the two sides of the strait.
Quemoy county has a population of 130,000 and consists of Quemoy Island, Little Quemoy Island and several islets. It is less than 10km (6.2 miles) from the mainland city of Xiamen but is administered by Taipei authorities based 200km away.
Once a front line in the Taiwan Strait conflict, Quemoy, also known as Kinmen, has transformed from a heavily militarised zone into a quiet community caught between two competing political systems. But a day trip to the island in mid-June and on-the-ground interviews show the clear limits both Beijing and Taipei face in influencing the island.


During military stand-offs between the two sides, Taipei has seen Quemoy as a model for promoting its system of governance – the leadership in Taipei still touts it as a front line to deter the People’s Liberation Army.
However, the island also has a front-row seat to Beijing’s latest cross-strait integration charm offensive because of its proximity to the mainland and close people connections.
Since September 2023, Beijing has simplified legal procedures for Taiwanese residents travelling to and working in Fujian, with the aim of drawing them to do business and live on the mainland.
Fujian plans to create an interconnected community between Quemoy and Xiamen, with Xiamen offering residents from Quemoy support for education, healthcare and pensions. Similar plans are also under way in Fujian’s provincial capital, Fuzhou, to allow access for residents of Taipei-controlled Matsu Islands around 20km away.
More than 70 per cent of Quemoy’s water is piped in from Fujian. The island was the first in Taiwan to launch direct transport links with the mainland, starting with a ferry service in 2001 – it is just a 30-minute boat ride to Xiamen but an hour’s flight to Taipei.
Some Quemoy residents have bought homes in mainland cities such as Xiamen and Quanzhou.
But the mainland’s charm offensive has clear limits.
Adan, a 26-year-old from Taichung in central Taiwan, undertook a work exchange in Quemoy during a gap year. For her and many other young Taiwanese, Quemoy is no more than an affordable option to take a break from urban life.
However, she said she “would never go to Xiamen” because she and her parents supported the DPP and believed that travelling to mainland China would “pose a safety risk”.
Four elderly Taiwanese travellers interviewed chose to return via Quemoy to Taichung after a trip to Fujian. They said Quemoy was merely a “convenient option” for travelling to and from the mainland, as direct flights were “few and expensive”.
Travel and people-to-people exchanges between the two sides fell during Tsai Ing-wen’s two terms as Taiwanese leader, starting in 2016. Tsai is also a member of the independence-leaning DPP.
Last year, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council even issued an orange travel alert for travel to mainland China, as well as Hong Kong and Macau, and urged Taiwanese residents to “avoid non-essential travel”. The warning is still in place.
The four Taiwanese travellers said they remained keen to do sightseeing on the mainland but nothing more, meaning they did not want to discuss cross-strait tensions or apply for a Fujian residence permit – an ID card offered by Beijing to Taiwanese, which could trigger punishment by DPP authorities.
A taxi driver in her fifties in Quemoy said she only occasionally visited Xiamen because she “still wants to live in an environment of democracy and freedom”.
Several other Quemoy residents said young people from Quemoy who chose to study or work in Fujian were still a minority, with most opting to live on Taiwan’s main island.
For Taipei, fully integrating this outlying island is not easy, especially for the DPP government.


For decades, Quemoy has been a stronghold for the mainland-friendly Kuomintang. In last year’s election, KMT candidate Hou Yu-ih won 61.4 per cent of the vote there, while Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te received only 10.02 per cent.
Many Quemoy residents have complained about Taipei, saying the “central government is unwilling” to develop the island.
Quemoy Island is only 20 sq km (7.7 square miles) smaller than Xiamen Island, but its buildings and infrastructure appear dilapidated while Xiamen, on the mainland, appears to be a modern metropolis with towering skyscrapers.
Some residents of Quemoy have pinned their hopes for better conditions on Xiamen, including the construction of a large international airport nearby.
One of the most controversial proposals in Quemoy is a cross-sea bridge connecting Xiamen. The DPP has opposed the plan, saying it would threaten Taiwan’s security, but construction of the bridge on the Xiamen side has already begun.
While traces of war linger in old bullet-scarred residential buildings, many people living in Quemoy avoid talking about the possibility of a new war.
Beijing regards Taiwan as a part of its territory and says it will use force to achieve unification if necessary. Most nations, including the United States, do not recognise the self-governing island as an independent country, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take Taiwan by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.
Quemoy has been at the tip of the mainland’s pressure on Taiwan in recent years.
In early 2024, tensions escalated after two mainland Chinese fishermen drowned in waters near Quemoy during a chase by Taiwanese coastguard forces. The resulting dispute was resolved only six months later, when the bodies of the fishermen were returned to the mainland.
The Fujian coastguard was quick to begin “routine law enforcement inspections” in Quemoy waters following the incident, which Taipei viewed as provocative. It sought to push back, also via Quemoy.
Last year, Lai also made two high-level visits to Quemoy to mark battles fought in 1949 and 1958.
On October 1949, after the Communist Party founded the People’s Republic of China, Kuomintang forces repelled a PLA assault on the island, which remained under KMT control. Heavy artillery battles followed in 1954 and 1958, with the 1958 clash claiming 618 lives, according to Taipei.
The memorial park commemorating the 1949 resistance against the PLA now appears dilapidated and neglected, with few visitors to the memorial hall.


According to a statement from Lai’s office, the leader praised the 1949 battle as “laying the foundation for Taiwan’s stability for the next 75 years” and said that “no external force can or will change the future of Taiwan and its affiliated islands”.
Lai has been repeatedly denounced by Beijing as a “stubborn separatist”. Since taking office in May last year, he has declared that Taiwan and mainland China are “not subordinate to each other”, further worsening cross-strait relations.
In Quemoy, one taxi driver who has been driving for 30 years and did not reveal his name, appeared resigned to the tension, saying that commemoration of last century’s battles by Lai and Tsai were “political statements that the president must make”.
But he remained optimistic about the threat of a cross-strait conflict.
“The mainland is facing many domestic problems, so it will not attack Taiwan, otherwise it will be sanctioned like Russia,” he said.
“Quemoy is so pro-mainland, wouldn’t the mainland give Quemoy a pardon,” he said in a nod to Quemoy’s geographical and historical place between Beijing and Taipei.


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Quemoy is administered by Taipei but has a front-row seat to Beijing’s cross-strait integration charm offensives


Quemoy is administered by Taipei but has a front-row seat to Beijing’s cross-strait integration charm offensives.


How a Taipei-controlled island close to mainland’s coast shows the limits of both sides

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Quemoy is administered by Taipei but has a front-row seat to Beijing’s cross-strait integration charm offensives

Quemoy is administered by Taipei but has a front-row seat to Beijing’s cross-strait integration charm offensives