My late paternal grandmother came from a small island called Kinmen (金門, jīn mén), nested between the southeastern coast of China and west of Taiwan. I was not close to her, and my father had never shared much about how she related to her place of origin. It was only until recently when a youtube video on the history of China mentioned the name that it rang a familiar bell. Many questions came to my mind. Was Kinmen a part of Taiwan or China? How did the tension between the two countries come about? When did Taiwan become a sovereign entity? I quickly went into a deep rabbit hole in search of answers.

China’s history runs long and rich, with archaeological evidence dating back 3200 years ago (c. 1600 BC). Dynasties reigned and were overruled hundreds of dozens of times, each one lasting 300 years on average before another came along. The cyclical rise and fall of royal families could be attributed to a number of reasons. One of them was the ancient Chinese political and philosophical doctrine called the Mandate of Heaven (天命; tiān mìng). It directly translates to “Heaven’s Command”, with guiding principles on how kingdoms should be ruled in the name of the divine. Rulers were perceived as “Son of the Heaven” (天子; tiān zǐ), chosen as the intermediary between the divine and mortal worlds. The doctrine also dictates that overthrowing a regime is justified should the ruler be deemed corrupted or incapable of protecting the people. As such, the imperial system went on for a long time, up until 1912 when the downfall of the Qing Dynasty marked the end of the thousands of years of the ancient monarcical governance.

This was also the time where gobalisation of thought and worldviews was booming; thousands of Chinese students went abroad and developed new perspectives on nationalism, democracy, and republicanism. The country realised that the traditional Confucian system was completely helpless against the other progressive and industrial nations. Ambitious political figures began rallying for military power and community support, each backed by vastly different ideological visions for the future of China. This gave rise two powerful parties, namely the Kuomintang (KMT) led by Sun Yat-sen, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) led by Chen Duxia. The KMT aimed for a single unified national identity (nationalism) and democracy for all. The CCP, on the other hand, held the radical marxist goal of communism and classless society. Evidently, these contrasting values set the foundation for an unprecedented division in the nation. They went on to have two major civil wars (1927-1937, and 1945-1949), with a devastating death toll of 8 to 12 million people. Despite their differences, there were two occassions that the parties joined forces against foreign powers. The first United Front was a Northern expedition engineered by the soviet union, to fight against regional warlords and reunify the fractured post-Qing China. The second was during Japan’s invasion in 1937.

By 1949, the CCP had garnered enough public support and the downfall of KMT was underway. Their rampant corruption and low morale was not helping their campaign either. On October 1 that year, the CCP captured Beijing and declared the People’s Republic of China (RCP). Chiang Kai-Shek, the successor of Sun Yat-sen, and the two million followers of KMT, retreated to the island of Taiwan, maintaining the Republic of China (ROC). The de facto independent nation of Taiwan continues to see vast political changes in the decades that followed. The martial law was lifted in 1987 and Taiwan transitioned into a democratic society. The first presidential election took place in 1996, where a prominent division called the two-party system emerged between the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). KMT maintained its pro-ROC and anti-communism policies, balancing relations with mainland China without submitting to the CCP governance. Conversely, the DPP calls for a distinct Taiwan identity and rejects Beijing’s one China principle. With every election, power has been oscillating between the two camps.

As Taiwan continued its efforts in establishing itself in the global scene, they rapidly moved from a poor agricultural society to an indispensable high-tech manufacturing powerhouse by the 21st century. This was known as the “Taiwan Miracle”, with 60% of the world’s microchips exported from the the silicone valley of Taiwan alone. Modern technology of today like iPhones, cars, and AI cannot function without Taiwan.

Going back to Kinmen (remember the tiny island I mentioned earlier), it becomes evident that far more attention—myself included—is devoted to the broader China–Taiwan conflict than to this small outpost. However, its role in their political stand-off has been far from minute. It was not surprising to find out that Chinese strategically leveraged Kinmen’s close proximity to the mainland to launch military attacks on Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Kinmen was subjected to repeated artillery bombardments during the 1950s, particularly during the Taiwan Strait Crises. However, Beijing slowly but surely realised that its aggressive methods were not effective enough. A significant strategic shift emerged under Xi Jinping. Xi served as a major political figure in the Fujian province, rising swiftly from his Vice Mayor position in Xiamen city during the late 1980s, to the Governor of Fujian in early 2000s. When he came into power, he introduced the Stick and Carrot strategy, a two-pronged approach designed to absorb Taiwan using severe military and economic pressure (stick) alongside seductive policies that would benefit their social welfare (carrot). Some of such “carrots” include the Xiamen-Kinmen Bridge, for the supply of water, electricity, and gas to flow into Kinmen, as well as attractive Fujian policies like equal housing and education for Taiwanese to move there. How has Taiwan responded to all of this? As it stands today, Kinmen relies entirely on Xiamen for its freshwater supply through an underwater pipeline laid across the Taiwan Strait. Yet despite the rapid progress of the Xiamen section of the proposed Xiamen–Kinmen Bridge (expected to be completed by the end of 2026) the Kinmen side remains untouched. These contrasting developments encapsulate a central paradox in cross-strait relations: while economic and infrastructural dependence on the mainland continues to deepen, Taiwan remains steadfast in preserving its political sovereignty. In many ways, tiny Kinmen has become a microcosm of the broader China–Taiwan relationship—physically intertwined, yet politically divided.