Remnants of military conflict encircle Zhang Zhong Jie’s cafe, located within an abandoned military fortification on Kinmen Island, Taiwan. The establishment is marked by rusting tanks at its entrance, a familiar scene for the island’s inhabitants. Positioned mere 6 miles from mainland China, the cafe is bordered by a row of anti-invasion spikes along the beach.
Despite ongoing tensions between Taiwan and China, mainland Chinese tourists constituted the cafe’s primary clientele since its inauguration in 2018. Initially, the cafe witnessed regular visits from tour groups, with daily arrivals of two to three busloads, as detailed by Zhang.
Over the past five years, the circumstances have notably shifted. Although China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, mainland Chinese tourists were long barred from visiting. In August 2019, Beijing halted individual travel to Taiwan due to poor cross-strait relations, and tour group visits were further restricted in 2020 with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, many on Kinmen experienced a substantial economic impact.
Reflecting on the island’s history, during the mid-20th century, Kinmen was a frontline in China’s conflict with Taiwan, marked by military training on beaches and the prevalence of anti-Communist propaganda. However, following a decline in military presence, the island refocused on tourism. Residents embraced Kinmen’s tumultuous past, repurposing former military sites into cafes and capitalizing on historical remnants to attract visitors.
Geographically, Kinmen lies approximately 1.8 miles from China and over 110 miles from Taiwan’s mainland, heavily influencing its economic dependency on Chinese visitors. Although boat services to China resumed post-COVID, the majority of passengers have been Taiwanese due to the ongoing visitation restrictions for mainland Chinese tourists. Following the easing of the pandemic, hopes were high for Chinese tourism to rebound.
However, an incident on February 14, involving a fatal collision between a Taiwanese Coast Guard boat and a Chinese boat, intensified tensions. Although Chinese tourists have begun visiting some of Taiwan’s remote islands, their return to Kinmen has been gradual. According to the Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council, Chinese national arrivals on Kinmen via boat drastically decreased from over 400,000 in 2019 to under 18,000 in 2023. Wu Zeng Yun, CEO of the Kinmen-Matsu Joint Services Center, interpreted the absence of tourists as a punitive measure from Beijing.
Local business owners on Kinmen felt the loss of Chinese tourism acutely, as it once contributed approximately $200 million annually. Beddy Chang, a noodle shop owner, reported that Chinese visitors constituted 80% of her customer base, prompting her to pivot towards exporting. Others, like Wu Zeng Yun’s family, reoriented their businesses to target Taiwan’s main island market, regularly hosting events in Taiwanese department stores.
Meanwhile, previous business ventures, like that of Lu Wen Shiung, faced challenges. After closing his restaurant, Lu transitioned to fishing and offering boat tours, which have also proven difficult. Following the February incident, China’s Coast Guard increased its regional presence, at times entering Kinmen’s restricted waters and engaging in military exercises.
A tentative agreement over the February incident was reached between Taiwanese and Chinese authorities in late July, enabling the return of the deceased fishermen’s bodies to China. Later, Kinmen legislator Chen Yu Jen traveled to Beijing to discuss reopening tourism. September saw the arrival of 22 mainland tourists, signifying a potential but modest resurgence of Chinese tourism.
While some remain skeptical about the prospects of returning to prior levels of Chinese visitation, local guide Chen expressed optimism for economic development through renewed travel exchanges between mainland China and Kinmen.
— Translators Alex Huang and Edison Tseng contributed to this report.
