KINMEN, Taiwan (Reuters) – In Kinmen, Taiwan, less than an hour by boat from the Chinese cities of Xiamen and Quanzhou, bar owner Powei Lee draws crowds by mixing up the small island’s battle-scared past in his cocktails.
At the height of the Cold War, Chinese and Taiwanese forces regularly clashed over Kinmen – then best known in English as Quemoy – and other Taipei-controlled islets along the Chinese coast.
While today Kinmen is a fashionable tourist destination, attracting visitors to see its endangered otters and stark natural beauty, it has returned to the news after China last week included areas around the island for its final war exercises near Taiwan.
Kinmen native Lee’s cocktails at his Vent Bar highlight Kinmen’s unique flavor, such as the local firewater, Kaoliang, made from sorghum grown on the island.
Lee, 31, designed a cocktail inspired by a massive propaganda campaign that followed the 1958 fighting, when Taiwanese forces repelled a Chinese attack on Kinmen, whose nearest point is only about 2 kilometers from China.
Called “Pick and Eat,” the cocktail is made with a base of soy milk, ginger and whiskey, topped with biscuits.
“At the time, both sides were dropping propaganda leaflets, each trying to show that their side was doing better and urging the other to surrender,” he told Reuters.
“One of the things they did besides leaflets was send out supplies like snacks and food, to show that people were well fed.”
Taiwan has controlled Kinmen and the Matsu Islands further up the coast since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taipei in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong’s communists. No peace treaty has ever been signed.
Former bunkers, many now open to visitors, still dot Kinmen, home to some 100,000 people, and the Taiwanese military maintains a significant presence there.
“I want them (visitors) to be able to take away something even more meaningful than just typical souvenirs. If they can really feel that connection with the land and understand the stories behind it, that will be the best souvenir that they will be able to live here in Kinmen,” Lee said.
These visitors may be Taiwanese or from further afield, but generally not Chinese. Regular Chinese tourism to Taiwan after the pandemic has yet to resume, amid bickering between Beijing and Taipei.
Life in Kinmen continued as normal during last week’s exercises, residents said, and flights to and from the main island of Taiwan were not disrupted.
Regarding the potential for conflict, Lee expressed his hope that we would not see a war.
“The pandemic has already been very disruptive, and a full-blown war would be much worse,” he said.
(Reporting by Reuters; writing by Ben Blanchard; editing by Christopher Cushing)
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