Missing Taiwan Kinmen Soldier Allegedly Swims to mainland China

[beijingwalker]

Missing Taiwan Kinmen Soldier Allegedly Swims to mainland China​

 

[beijingwalker]

From Taiwan Kinmen beach to look over Xiamen city in the mainland, quite a good swimmer though

 

[beijingwalker]

Taiwan says soldier who went missing has been found in China​

By Eric Cheung and Nectar Gan, CNN
Published 4:14 AM EDT, Mon March 13, 2023

Taipei, TaiwanCNN —
A Taiwanese soldier who went missing last week from an island near the Chinese coast has been found in mainland China, a Taiwan official said on Monday, raising the possibility of a highly unusual defection amid heightened tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

Speaking to reporters, Chiu Tai-san, minister of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, said China had notified Taiwan that the soldier, surnamed Chen, is currently in mainland China.

Chen was reported missing on Erdan island following a roll call, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry said in a statement Thursday, adding it had set up a special task force to locate him.

Erdan, part of the Taipei-controlled Kinmen islands, is located less than 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the Chinese port city of Xiamen in southeastern Fujian province.

In recent years, Beijing has ramped up economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Taiwan – a self-ruling democracy the Chinese Communist Party claims as its own despite having never governed it.

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) frequently sends aircraft and warships close to Taiwan, in a campaign aimed at intimidating the island and wearing down its equipment.

On Monday, Chiu said the Taiwanese Defense Ministry has existing mechanisms to determine whether the soldier should be identified as a deserter.

He added that the Taiwanese and Chinese sides have communication channels to handle emergency situations and combat crime. “The defense ministry and coast guard administration are actively understanding the relevant progress and situation,” Chiu said.

CNN has reached out to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry for comment.

Propaganda victories​

While defection between the two sides has been rarely heard of in recent years, it used to be a more common occurrence.

In 2002, Taiwan’s then-minister of defense said the Taiwanese military saw 20 cases of defections to China between 1949 and 1989.

Defectors from both sides were seen as huge propaganda wins – and sometimes rewarded in cash.

In 1981, China paid a reward of $370,000 to a Taiwanese Air Force major who defected to the mainland with an American-built reconnaissance plane – a valuable asset for the PLA at the time.

Other defectors would swim between China and Kinmen. The closest distance between the main island of Kinmen and the Chinese coast, at low tide, is less than 2 kilometers (1.6 miles).

In 1979, Justin Lin, a Taiwanese ground force captain and company commander, swam across that channel to defect to China. He went on to study at the prestigious Peking University and become a high-profile economist.

Taiwan says soldier who went missing has been found in China | CNN

A Taiwanese soldier who went missing last week from an island near the Chinese coast has been found in mainland China, a Taiwan official said on Monday, raising the possibility of a highly unusual defection amid heightened tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

edition.cnn.com

 

[Song Hong]

This guy is an army cook. Different from PLA, the democratic nation army cooks are often lowest calibre in army. Outside the camp they are often members of organized crime and gangster and widely look down -- while the infantry can fear them sometimes.

Very hard to re-settle such people down in the civilian society in China.

Nevertheless the defect of gangster is still quite welcome as it shake the morale of Taiwanese army.

 

[MH.Yang]

This guy is an army cook. Different from PLA, the democratic nation army cooks are often lowest calibre in army. Outside the camp they are often members of organized crime and gangster and widely look down -- while the infantry can fear them sometimes.

Very hard to re-settle such people down in the civilian society in China.

Nevertheless the defect of gangster is still quite welcome as it shake the morale of Taiwanese army.

These people are not useless burdens. Many people defected from Taiwan to China.

Justin Yifu Lin, Vice President of the World Bank, defected from Taiwan to the mainland by swimming, and later became one of the important decision-makers of China's economic development.

Justin Yifu Lin - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Song Hong]

These people are not useless burdens. Many people defected from Taiwan to China.

Justin Yifu Lin, Vice President of the World Bank, defected from Taiwan to the mainland by swimming, and later became one of the important decision-makers of China's economic development.

Justin Yifu Lin - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

View attachment 920139

Justin is a scholar and army officer.

Army cook in free world is the lowest calibre. Everyone look down on army cook. They are often gangster outside camp. A lot of army cook went military jail during their service and get dishonrably discharged.

I am quite sure you never been in army.

 

[beijingwalker]

Taiwan Says It Hopes to Bring Back Soldier Who Went to China​

By Reuters
March 13, 2023, at 10:08 p.m.

FILE PHOTO-Taiwan Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng speaks at a rank conferral ceremony for military officials from the Army, Navy and Air Force, at the defence ministry in Taipei, Taiwan December 28, 2021. REUTERS/Annabelle ChihREUTERS

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's defence minister said on Tuesday that the government is investigating the disappearance of a soldier serving on an offshore island who has been found in China, and vowed to bring him back.

Speaking to reporters at parliament, Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said: "We certainly hope to bring him back home. So how will we get him back? There are alternative channels we are pursuing."

He did not elaborate on those channels.

The minister denied what he called rumours that the soldier had fled from abusive treatment by the military.

When asked whether there was any risk that the missing soldier could disclose classified military deployment and location information, he replied, "Regardless of whether he has any such capability, which we neither confirm nor deny, we would not need to make any large-scale strategic adjustments to mitigate any information provided by this one individual."

​

The soldier, serving on Erdan islet close to the Chinese coast, went missing last week and was found on Monday.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office has not commented on the issue.

China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has over the past three years stepped up military and political pressure to try and get Taiwan to accept Chinese sovereignty. Taiwan's government rejects those claims.

During the height of the Cold War, defectors from both sides would on occasion swim between China and Kinmen.
At its nearest point, from the Mashan observation post, the main island of Kinmen is at low tide less than 2km (1.6 miles) from Chinese-controlled territory.
It was from there former World Bank chief economist Justin Lin swam across to defect to China in 1979.

Taiwan has controlled Kinmen, as well as the Matsu islands further up the Chinese coast, since the Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the communists, who established the People's Republic of China.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2023-03-13/taiwan-says-it-hopes-to-bring-back-soldier-who-went-to-china

 

[casual]

There's no way Taiwan is getting him back lol. CCP will reward him handsomely to encourage more defections.

 

[VCheng]

Missing Taiwan Kinmen Soldier Allegedly Swims to mainland China

It's not like he needed a visa to visit another part of the same country. The only issue is which is the legal government there.

 

[casual]

It's not like he needed a visa to visit another part of the same country. The only issue is which is the legal government there.

Technically still at war. The Chinese civil war never officially ended. There isn't even an cease fire agreement.

 

[VCheng]

Technically still at war. The Chinese civil war never officially ended. There isn't even an cease fire agreement.

So no visa required, as I said.

 

[beijingwalker]

Taiwanese deserter says he wants to stay in China​

Chinese media claims Taiwanese soldier 'eating well, sleeping well, and everything is fine​

By Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
2023/03/17 12:16

Erdan Island. (CNA photo)
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A soldier who went missing from an Army base in Kinmen County last week and is now considered a deserter reportedly said he does not wish to return to Taiwan and wants to remain in China.

On Thursday (March 16), Kuomintang Legislator Jessica Chen (陳玉珍) was cited by UDN as saying she received notification that the 26-year-old private surnamed Chen (陳) is unharmed and currently in Xiamen. The legislator said Chinese officials agreed to allow the soldier's family members to visit him and that she would accompany them on their trip.
However, the legislator said that she was informed that the soldier does not want to return to Taiwan. She added that his family members have been notified that he is safe, but have not yet had direct communication with him.

According to the legislator, the soldier's father is not from Kinmen and therefore cannot take the Little Three Links and will have to take the larger Three Links route instead. According to regulations, because the soldier has failed to return to his post for more than six days, he is now categorized as a deserter.

The lawmaker was cited by Mirror Media as saying the soldier deserted his unit because he was "under some personal pressure." However, she emphasized that it was not caused by military discipline issues and called on young people to "bear pressure bravely."

Chinese state-run media outlet Hong Kong China News Agency claimed the soldier has been "eating well, sleeping well, and everything is fine." He also reportedly told his family members not to worry.

Taiwanese deserter says he wants to stay in China | Taiwan News | 2023-03-17 12:16:00

Chinese media claims Taiwanese soldier 'eating well, sleeping well, and everything is fine' | 2023-03-17 12:16:00

www.taiwannews.com.tw

 

[beijingwalker]

It's not surprising that soldiers in Taiwan want to swim to Xiamen city, just look at the massive contrast between Xiamen and Kinmen