In his New Year’s speech a week ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping threatened that “no one can stop the reunification” of Taiwan with China. As President Xi delivered his speech, the People’s Liberation Army Navy conducted military exercises to show its strength to Taiwan and the rest of the democratic world.
Most of the military maneuvers took place near Kinmen and Matsu Islands – a sovereign territory of Taiwan and 5.3 nautical miles (10 km) and 10 nautical miles (19 km) off the coast of mainland China, respectively. In comparison, these islands are between 150 nautical miles (280 km) and 114 nautical miles (211 km) off the coast of Taiwan.
Despite being on the coastline with mainland China, it is interesting to note that Beijing has never been able to capture these Taiwanese islands in a war. In fact, China has decisively lost two battles with Taiwan.
PRC vs ROC
China and Taiwan are separated by the Taiwan Strait – a waterway that connects the South China Sea to the East China Sea between the two countries.
Before 1949, China was known as the Republic of China and was founded on the ideology of democratic values. It was led by the Kuomintang Party, founded in 1912, and advocated by its founder and ideologue Sun Yat-sen, who organized the party on the values of democratic centralism. Years later, during the civil war with communist forces led by Mao Zedong, the Kuomintang was led by party co-founder and then-President of the Republic of China Chien Kai-shek.
The Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with the victory of Mao Zedong’s communist movement and the defeat of Chiang Kai-shek’s ruling Kuomintang Party, which had to flee to Taiwan. Mao Zedong declared that the Republic of China would henceforth be known to the world as the People’s Republic of China – a communist country.
The Kuomintang and its democratic ideals took refuge in the island nation of Taiwan, whose official name is still the Republic of China – a democratic nation.
It has remained that way for the past 76 years, despite numerous attempts by communist forces to subvert democracy and erase its ideals from Taiwan and its territories – all of which have failed.
China, now considered a global superpower, still wants to annex Taiwan, and Xi Jinping, who currently leads the Chinese Communist Party, wants to accomplish what Mao Zedong could not.
battle of kinmen
At the end of the civil war, when victory over Mainland China was certain, Mao Zedong’s Communist Party decided to launch a forceful offensive against Taiwan – the final frontier yet to be conquered. Their hatred of the Kuomintang and its democratic ideals was so great that the Communist Party wanted to wipe out every square inch of the Republic of China. Beijing’s stance of occupying Taiwan “at all costs” stems from the policy that as long as China is a Republic, there is a gap in the armor from which rebellion, civil war or the spread of any other ideology is possible.
Occupying Taiwan would mean abandoning the mainland and sending troops overseas to the island nation and waging war with them on its own territory – a move that would not be easy. Mao Zedong decided that in order to eventually capture Taiwan, one would first have to capture the islands and territories that lay close to the mainland – namely Kinmen and Matsu.
Kinmen consists of two large islands and thirteen islets. Due to the close proximity of the two Taiwanese areas, Mao Zedong decided to target these first. Greater Kinmen – the largest island – became the primary target. But its geography was advantageous for Taiwanese forces. It has mountainous terrain on its eastern side and its coastline is rocky and rugged, making it vulnerable to external threats. On its western side, facing mainland China, there are beaches that are easy for the enemy to capture in time of war – and this is also suitable for Beijing.
The Chinese army decided to do it in two takes – the first would consist of about 10,000 soldiers arriving on the island and setting up a garrison, then wait for reinforcements to arrive – another 10,000 soldiers. They thought this would be enough to overcome the Taiwanese forces, which were estimated to be of similar strength in numbers. China assumed that the fall of mainland China would demoralize Taiwanese forces and make them easier to defeat. But this was not to happen.
Anticipating such a move by Communist China, the Taiwanese military had laid approximately 7,500 landmines on the coastline. The beaches were secured to prevent any type of amphibious transport and the rest of the island was fortified with strategically placed mines, nets and hundreds of bunkers.
Taiwan had also prepared well for such an attack by strengthening its infantry as well as its armored divisions, including two tank regiments. Fighting began on 25 October, with China aiming to gain control of the island in three days. Thus began the Battle of Qimen, officially known as the Battle of Guningtu.
Mines and traps caused heavy Chinese casualties and the Taiwanese Army’s armored divisions dealt a crushing blow to the Chinese troops. The amphibious transport ships were damaged by anti-amphibious weapons and beached on the island. Their failure to return to the mainland meant that the next round of troops could not be sent in time.
Artillery firing from mainland China was not of much help. Meanwhile, the Taiwanese Air Force and Navy launched a counter-offensive and first damaged all Chinese boats near the Kinmen Islands. Chinese army troops suffered heavy casualties against the US-made machine guns and tanks that were used by the Taiwanese troops.
At the end of the first day, the Chinese army lost more than half of its troops and more than 70 percent of its ammunition and transportation. Its boats and amphibious ships were destroyed, the troops isolated. The Taiwanese army further consolidated its position by largely cutting off Gunningtou.
Reinforcements managed to arrive with about 1,000 Chinese soldiers joining the battle the next day. But by then the Taiwanese had gone on the offensive and with American-made M5A1 Suart light tanks to support the infantry, they took control of Gunningtou, which was then under Communist control.
By the end of the second day, the Chinese troops ran out of food and supplies. The next morning Taiwanese troops overran the Communist forces and over 5,000 soldiers were taken as prisoners of war. Not only was Kinmen retained by Taiwan, but communist forces also lost control of Gunningtou. It was a humiliating defeat for Mao Zedong and the People’s Republic of China – the name had just been announced earlier that month.
In the 1950s and thereafter, several invasions were attempted by China, but each attempt failed. The United States has come to Taiwan’s aid on several occasions as China’s influence grew, but China never dared to directly attack the US Navy because Beijing did not want a direct war with Washington.
Even today, China considers Taiwan a rebellious island province – which it must occupy “at all costs”. Beijing has repeatedly said it will not abandon the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. The scale and frequency of its war exercises has been increasing recently with the latest maneuvers being held on New Year’s Day.
