New Delhi:
In his New Year 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 carried out military drills to show its might to Taiwan and the rest of the democratic world.
Much of the military manoeuvres were carried near the islands of Kinmen and Matsu – which are a sovereign territory of Taiwan and barely 5.3 nautical miles (10 km) and 10 nautical miles (19 km) respectively from the coast of mainland China. In comparison, these islands are 150 nautical miles (280 km) and 114 nautical miles (211 km) from the coast of Taiwan.
Despite being right on the coastline with mainland China, it is interesting to note that Beijing has never been able to take over these Taiwanese islands in battle. In fact, China has lost two battles decisively to Taiwan.
PRC vs ROC
China and Taiwan are separated by the Strait of Taiwan – a waterway that connects the South China Sea to the East China Sea between the two nations.
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 organised the party on a values of democratic centralism. Years later, during the civil war with communist forces led by Mao Zedong, the Kuomintang was led by Chian Kai-shek, a co-founder of the party and then President of the Republic of China.
The Chinese civil war ended in 1949 with a victory of Mao Zedong’s communist movement and defeat of Chiang Kai-shek’s ruling Kuomintang party, which had to flee to Taiwan. Mao Zedong declared that the Republic of China will henceforth be known to the world as People’s Republic of China – a communist country.
The Kuomintang and its democratic ideals took shelter in the island nation of Taiwan, whose official name is still the Republic of China – a democratic nation.
This is the way it has remained for the last 76 years, despite multiple attempts by communist forces to decimate democracy and wipe out its ideals from Taiwan and its territories – all of which have failed.
China, now considered a global superpower, still aims to make Taiwan its own, and Xi Jinping, who currently leads the Chinese Communist Party desires to fulfill what Mao Zedong couldn’t.
THE BATTLE OF KINMEN
Towards the end of the civil war, when victory over Mainland China was certain, Mao Zedong’s Communist Party decided to launch a crushing offensive against Taiwan – the final frontier yet to be conquered. So fervent their hatred for the Kuomintang and its democratic ideals that the Communist Party wanted to eradicate every square inch of the Republic of China. Beijing’s stance to take over Taiwan “at all cost” stems from the policy that as long as there is a Republic of China, there is a chink in the armour, from where an uprising, a civil war or the spread of another ideology is possible.
Taking over Taiwan would mean leaving the mainland and sending troops overseas to the island nation and going to war with them in their own territory – a move that would not be easy. Mao Zedong decided that to finally take over Taiwan, it is a must to first take over is islets and territories which are located closer to the mainland – namely the Kinmen and Matsu.
Kinmen consists of two large islands and thirteen islets. Being the closer of the two Taiwanese territories, Mao Zedong decided to target these first. Greater Kinmen – the largest island – became the primary target. But its geography was an advantage to the Taiwanese forces. Its eastern side has mountainous terrain and its coastline rocky and rugged makes it a challenge for an external threat. its western side, facing mainland China has beaches which are easier for an enemy to breach in times of war – and for Beijing logistically suitable too.
The Chinese Army decided to do this in two bursts – the first comprising roughly 10,000 soldiers who would reach the island and set up a garrison, then wait for reinforcements to arrive – another 10,000 soldiers. This they thought would be enough to overpower the Taiwanese forces, which were estimated to be of a similar strength in numbers. China assumed that the Taiwanese forces would be demoralised with the fall of mainland China and would be easy to defeat. But that wasn’t to be.
Anticipating such a move by communist China, Taiwanese forces had lined up the coastline with nearly 7,500 landmines. The beaches were secured to stop any form of amphibious transport and the rest of the island was fortified with strategically placed mines, traps, and hundreds of bunkers.
Taiwan had also prepared well for such an attack by strengthening its infantry as well as its armoured divisions, including two tank regiments. The battle began on October 25, with China aiming to wrest control of the island in three days. So began the Battle of Kimen, which is officially known as the Battle of Guningtou.
The land mines and traps led to heavy Chinese casualties and the armoured divisions of the Taiwanese forces gave a crushing blow to the Chinese troops. The amphibious transport vessels were damaged by anti-amphibious weapons and ended up being beached on the island. Their failure to return to the mainland meant that the next round of soldiers could not be sent in time.
The artillery firing from mainland China did not help much. Meanwhile the Taiwanese air force and navy began a counter-offense by first damaging all the Chinese boats near the Kinmen islands. Soldiers of the Chinese Army faced heavy casualties against the US-made machine guns and tanks which the Taiwanese soldiers used.
At the end of day one itself, the Chinese army lost more than half its soldiers and more than 70 per cent of its ammunition and transport. with its boats and amphibious vessels destroyed, the troops were isolated. The Taiwanese military also further strengthened its positions by vastly cutting off Guningtou.
The next day reinforcements managed to reach with approximately 1,000 Chinese soldiers joining the battle. But by then the Taiwanese were on the offense and with US-made M5A1 Suart light tanks aiding the infantry, took control of Guningtou, which was under communist control at the time.
By the end of day two, the Chinese troops ran out of food and supplies. The following morning Taiwanese soldiers overpowered the communist forces and more than 5,000 soldiers were kept as prisoners of war. Not only was Kinmen retained by Taiwan, but the communist forces lost the control of Guningtou too. It was a humiliating defeat for Mao Zedong and People’s Republic of China – a name declared just earlier that month.
Throughout the 1950s and beyond, multiple invasions were attempted by China, but each attempt failed. The United States has on several occasions come to the aid of Taiwan as China’s influence grew, but China never dared attack the US navy directly as Beijing did not want direct war with Washington.
Even today, China considers Taiwan a renegade island province – one that it must take over “at all costs”. Beijing has repeatedly said it will not renounce the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Its war drills are increasing in scale and frequency with the latest manoeuvres as recently as New Year’s day.
