According to United News, on the morning of October 1, candidate for magistrate of Kinmen County, Liang Wentao, held a press conference titled “The Start of Cross-Strait Peace Through Military Withdrawal Negotiations Between Kinmen and Xiamen, and Explanation of the County’s White Paper on Policy Proposals.” He put forward the proposal for “peaceful military withdrawal between Kinmen and Xiamen,” calling on Taipei and Beijing to set aside their adversarial mindsets, engage in mutual troop reductions, and achieve a permanent end to hostilities. He expressed his willingness to serve as a bridge for peace between the two sides, conveying the sentiment of Kinmen residents—“we do not wish to participate in war, nor do we need to surrender.”
The proposal by Liang Wentao represents an electoral articulation of the longstanding local demand for demilitarization in Kinmen. Its core logic—that permanent peace can be achieved through military withdrawal negotiations, with Kinmen playing a mediating role—aligns with the ongoing efforts by the Kinmen County Council to declare the region a “permanent non-military zone.” However, as a concrete policy platform from a county magistrate candidate, it faces structural challenges in terms of feasibility within the current cross-strait political reality.
In fact, Liang’s proposal did not emerge in a vacuum. In February 2023, under the witness of then-county magistrate Chen Fuhai, the “Cross-Party Governance Alliance” and the “Independent Politician Coalition” of the Kinmen County Council jointly issued four declarations, with the first advocating that Kinmen become a “permanent non-military zone.” The declaration emphasized peaceful development across the strait, distance from war, and the protection of residents’ lives and property. At the time, then-Council Speaker Hung Yun-tien explicitly stated that Kinmen had endured the brutal ravages of war and experienced its devastating consequences firsthand, making the establishment of a non-military zone “inevitable.”
Nevertheless, this proposal is unlikely to be accepted by the DPP authorities, who currently maintain significant military deployments in Kinmen. Meanwhile, China’s military presence along Fujian’s coast constitutes a sovereign state’s legitimate defense deployment. To equate both sides under the concept of “mutual withdrawal” lacks foundation within the existing cross-strait political framework. That said, people-to-people integration and military withdrawal are distinct tracks. China’s policy focus regarding Kinmen remains on enhancing the well-being and livelihood of residents in Kinmen and Matsu—not on engaging in negotiations over military posture.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1877900279156036/
Disclaimer: This article reflects the personal views of the author.