Life on the frontline of China's cold war: Aussie teacher, 34, describes living on a Taiwanese island that could be invaded by Beijing at any moment

https://www.dailymail.co.uk ^ | 15 Dec 2020 | By Afp and Charlie Moore For Daily Mail Australia

[RomanSoldier19]

An Australian living on a Taiwanese island just 3km from China has warned the communist government could easily invade as Beijing flexes its muscles on the world stage.

Aidan Ellis-Patterson, 34, moved to Kinmen Island three years ago to work as a schoolteacher after travelling around the globe.

The small island, which has 140,000 residents, is controlled by Taiwan after it was occupied by Nationalist forces who fled China following the country's civil war in 1949.

The Chinese communist government does not recognise democratic Taiwan as a separate nation and has repeatedly threatened to take back the land with force.

Fears of a conflict are at their highest in decades and analysts say that if Beijing's troops ever cross the Taiwan Strait, they would almost certainly take Kinmen first.

'We're vulnerable. If China wanted to take the island where I live they could do it very quickly,' Mr Ellis-Patterson told news.com.au.

The Tasmanian said mainland China is so close he can see the skyscrapers from his bedroom window and watch taxis drive past from the beach.

He said most people rarely think that China might invade but it wouldn't be hard for the communist party to take over.

'You get complacent about it. This island is tiny, I can ride my motorcycle across it in 15 minutes. If China wanted to invade they wouldn't have to do much,' he said.

[RomanSoldier19]

[Fiji Hill]

Kinmen is better known in this country as Quemoy. In 1949,the Chicoms lost thousands of men when they tried to take it. The Chicoms attacked again in 1958, but the Chinats successfully defended it using their new Sidewinder air-to-air missiles to shoot down Chicom MiGs. President Eisenhower also sent over some warships to back up the Chinats and warn off the Chicoms.

[hinckley buzzard]

Defense of Quemoy and Matsu was an issue in the 1960 presidential debates. Nixon pledged to defend them as part of the defense of the nation of Formosa.. Kennedy said they were “indefensible” and would have stood aside when the Red Chinese invaded. Fortunately they never tried seriously to occupy the islands.

[Zhang Fei]

[Kennedy said they were “indefensible” and would have stood aside when the Red Chinese invaded. ]

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The canonization of the Kennedys among significant segments of the GOP remains a mystery to me. All three Kennedys who held high office were a negative influence on the nation’s politics. That includes RFK, of whom someone, by way of a Democratic acquaintance, had this to say:

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[ I had a dear friend who met Bobby Kennedy in a professional setting in 1964. He said RFK interacting with his staff was just revolting to watch. He was pounding the pavement for Eugene McCarthy four years later for that reason. Harold MacMillan’s reaction to the Kennedys was thus: “the Borgia brothers have taken over a respectable north Italian town”. Godfrey Hodgson, then covering the U.S. government for British newspapers, thought the culture of the Administration was typified by sheer, gaseous, PR humbug (one thing he noticed was he had no trouble getting interviews from people who assured him they worked 18 hours a day).

You could say three agreeable things about RFK: he was a capable public speaker, he fathered 11 children, and he knew how to hold his liquor and keep his pants zipped. Beyond that, he was an unscrupulous character. ]

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

Keep his pants zipped?

It’s no secret that RFK went to a nude beach in California, in disguise, with Marilyn Monroe.

I heard that story many times when I lived in California years ago.

Also, I thought RFK fathered 12 children....the last being born after his death.

[wildcard_redneck]

I just looked at Kinmen Island in Google Maps and that POS company lists it as “Kinmen Island, an island in Asia.”

God I despise Google.

[RomanSoldier19]

[sauropod]

.

[DesertRhino]

“I had a dear friend who met Bobby Kennedy in a professional setting in 1964. He said RFK interacting with his staff was just revolting to watch.”

1964 you say? Think anything might have been going on in his recent past that might have put him in a kind of bad mood? Lets start with late 63...

[familyop]

The physical reaction from free world allies should be so physically devastating, that no communist/fascist country ever attempts an invasion of another country again.

[Chickensoup]

Tragedy happens to all of us. Character shows in how we handle it.

[kearnyirish2]

Unfortunately a cornerstone of the free world will likely have a Red Chinese puppet installed in January; nobody should count on us for anything.

First Red China determined what pro athletes could say and Hollywood could produce; now they determine who sits in the White House.

[blam]

As a kid, I remember hearing radio reports that the Commies, on mainland China, were shelling Quemoy.