Drills on Taiwan isle underscore its strategic importance

DONGYIN (Taiwan) • The Taiwanese defence ministry held live fire drills in the island's northern-most territory yesterday, putting the spotlight on a remote isle that is strategically located at a chokepoint near China - and potentially vulnerable to attack.

The ministry said the exercises on Dongyin, which is part of the Taiwan-controlled Matsu archipelago off the coast of China's Fuzhou, are routine.

During the exercise, soldiers fired shells at a floating red cross in the water, meant to represent advancing enemy forces. Piercing the calm blue sea, each shell sent spray upwards. The echoes of machine guns, punctuated by cannon fire, reverberated around the rugged coastline.

Although Taipei has not reported any unusual activities by Beijing recently, on Feb 5 a small, propeller-driven Chinese aircraft flew very close to Dongyin. Taiwan suspected that the aircraft was a civilian one deployed by China to test the responses of its military.

Taiwan does not publish details of its military presence there, but the Dongyin Area Command has been at the front line of the island's defences since the 1950s.

Dr Chieh Chung, a researcher at the National Policy Foundation, a Taipei-based think-tank, said Dongyin's forces are equipped with Taiwan's self-made Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missile as well as Sky Bow II surface-to-air missiles, making it "the most strategically important" outlying island.

Rocky Dongyin, reached by overnight boat from northern Taiwan's Keelung port and home to some 1,500 civilians, sits on an important passage for any southbound Chinese forces from the eastern province of Zhejiang if they attack Taiwan.

"That's why Dongyin is equipped with the Hsiung Feng and Sky Bow missiles. Dongyin poses a very direct threat to the Chinese air and naval movements," Dr Chieh said.

At a seminar in Taipei last month, retired navy rear-admiral Tan Chih-lung said Dongyin's missile sites would be among the first targets of a Chinese attack.

A security source acknowledged that the Chinese aircraft that got close to the sleepy islet had highlighted its vulnerability and proved it was of great interest to China.

Taiwan has governed Matsu, and Kinmen to its south, since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taipei at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.

China views Taiwan as a breakaway province to be reunified by force, if necessary.

Despite the presence of troops, Dongyin is not a closed island. Tourists can explore former military tunnels, take in the stark natural beauty and go fishing.

"We're very used to these sounds," said Dongyin township chief Lin Te-chien, as he observed yesterday's drills.

REUTERS