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The tank traps on the beaches of Kinmen Island are a stark reminder that Taiwan lives under the constant threat of a Chinese invasion -- & fears of a conflict breaking out are now at their highest in decades.
Latest report by @ambermywang and I for @AFP https://sg.news.yahoo.com/china-angry-taiwan-anxiety-rises-044525403.html
Latest report by @ambermywang and I for @AFP https://sg.news.yahoo.com/china-angry-taiwan-anxiety-rises-044525403.html
Not since the mid-1990s, when China fired missiles into the Taiwan Strait during a moment of heightened tension, has Beijing's sabre-rattling been so loud.
China's jets are now crossing into Taiwan's defence zone at an unprecedented rate and the People's Liberation Army releasing propaganda simulating an invasion of the island -- and even an attack on US bases in Guam.
@Ian_M_Easton , author of a book about what war could look like, says the world is ignoring the spiralling tensions in the Taiwan Strait at its peril.
"This is the most dangerous, the most unstable, and the most consequential flashpoint on the planet," he told @AFP
"This is the most dangerous, the most unstable, and the most consequential flashpoint on the planet," he told @AFP
Captain James Fanell, former director of naval intel for the US Pacific fleet, believes China will move on Taiwan in some form in the next 10 years.
"The reality is China's always had a plan and they're on a timeline," he told @AFP.
"We're in the decade of concern right now."
"The reality is China's always had a plan and they're on a timeline," he told @AFP.
"We're in the decade of concern right now."
Over the last 20 years China transformed from a brown-water navy into a globally capable one equipped with better hypersonic missiles and far more ships than the US.
Video by @changphotog, pictures by @samafp
Video by @changphotog, pictures by @samafp
While they @AFP team were in Kinmen, they also popped in on a bit of a local celebrity -- Maestro Wu.
Wu makes kitchen knives from the spent shells that China repeatedly fired at Kinmen between 1949 and the 1970s.
Wu makes kitchen knives from the spent shells that China repeatedly fired at Kinmen between 1949 and the 1970s.
"The people don't want war," Wu told @AFP. "It's very brutal and we in Kinmen experienced... having relatives and friends killed or injured."
"I hope the two sides can deal with each other peacefully... It is up to the the wisdom of both governments." https://sg.news.yahoo.com/taiwan-blacksmith-turns-chinese-artillery-053903647.html
"I hope the two sides can deal with each other peacefully... It is up to the the wisdom of both governments." https://sg.news.yahoo.com/taiwan-blacksmith-turns-chinese-artillery-053903647.html
