Why is Kinmen Part of Taiwan?

Many people cannot believe why an island less than 10 kilometers from the Chinese mainland is part of Taiwan, especially as Kinmen is right in front of Xiamen, a mega city with more than 5 million inhabitants. In this article, I look at the history of Kinmen and explain why Kinmen belongs to Taiwan and not to another country.

Before we start note that Kinmen was never a place for Taiwanese nationalism. The island was not part of Taiwan under Japanese rule, but the Japanese took the island in 1937 from the Republic of China (not the same as Taiwan, but the state of China that existed from 1912 to 1949). After World War II ended, Kinmen once again became part of the ROC. And this is the point where things get interesting. So, which country does Kinmen belong to?

Battle of Guningtou in 1949

The KMT, under Chiang Kai-shek, had to withdraw its forces from mainland China to Taiwan. They made the wise decision to reinforce their troops in Kinmen and Matsu. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) under Mao Zedong also understood the value of these islands and aimed to take them as soon as possible.

This led to the Battle of Guningtou, also known as the Battle of Kinmen, in 1949. The PLA quickly mobilized around 19,000 soldiers to take the island in two waves. They did not wait for better equipment and used mostly civilian fishing boats and light weapons to start their attack.

The nationalist soldiers in Kinmen not only prepared their defenses with bunkers and landmines but also anti-amphibious landing beach obstacles. The ROC also deployed a tank regiment in time, and the attacking communists were caught off guard. The Battle of Guningtou started on October 25 1949 and lasted for two days.

The PLA failed mostly due to a lack of preparation, an insufficient number of landing vessels, failure to take the landing beaches, and the lack of an overall command to orchestrate the attack. The fact that the KMT soldiers prepared their defenses and had equipment such as light tanks added to the failure of the operation.

Conflicts Over Kinmen After 1949

Kinmen stayed Taiwanese, but the island had to become a military fortress to keep it that way. The KMT and the PLA understood that the geographical proximity to Xiamen made the island strategically vital – at least at the time. Remember that Chiang Kai-shek also had the ambition to take control of Mainland China again. He deployed more troops, and at one point, more than 170,000 soldiers were stationed in Kinmen. In 1950, China launched another attack on Dadan Island but failed again.

The PLA extensively shelled Kinmen during the First and Second Taiwan Strait Crises in 1954–1955 and 1958, respectively. In just 44 days, for example, the Mainland Chinese army dropped 470,000 bombshells on the island. 

If you have seen my video about the local products of Kinmen, you know that these shells are the source material for the Kinmen Knives.

The topic of “Quemoy and Matsu” (Quemoy is the Hokkien name for Kinmen) even became a hot issue in the 1960 U.S. presidential election. The shelling continued until 1973. You can find more details about the battles and the debate between Nixon and Kennedy in my video about the latest history of Kinmen.

How did Kinmen Become a Tourist Destination?

It is wonderful that today most people are concerned about where to get the best vacation packages on Kinmen Island and do not worry about the years of conflict. But how did we get here?

Things calmed down, and Taiwan and China aimed to improve their cross-strait relations. Despite being a difficult topic, this helped the transition of Kinmen into a tourist island. Taiwan also turned into a democracy, and martial law ended. However, it took Kinmen until 1995 to follow suit with mainland Taiwan.

Since 2001, there has been a direct ferry to Xiamen from Kinmen that mostly brings Chinese tourists to the island. Travelers from China make up the largest share of all visitors. The Taiwanese army is still present in Kinmen, but the number of soldiers is decreasing. Additionally, islands such as Dadan Island and Erdan Island are now open to tourists, although I still have not managed to visit them. But they are on my bucket list for my travel vlog.

Incidents on Kinmen Island and Wrap-Up

So, Kinmen is part of Taiwan because the KMT soldiers managed to defend it several times, and over the years, things became more peaceful. Kinmen today is not a prime target of China. However, I do not want to wrap up this article without mentioning two incidents in Kinmen.

The “2/14 Kinmen Incident” made waves in the media after a Chinese motorboat capsized. In February 2024, an unmarked and unregistered boat from China tried to escape a control by the Taiwanese coast guards in restricted waters. Two of the four Chinese fishermen died. The China Coast Guard increased patrols in the area following the incident and even started boarding Taiwanese cruise ships. I talk about the issue in my Xiamen video.