POST
PRODUCTION
SCRIPT
FOREIGN
CORRESPONDENT
2019
Death Metal Diplomacy
30
mins 10 secs
©2019
ABC
Ultimo Centre
700
Harris Street Ultimo
NSW
2007 Australia
GPO
Box 9994
Sydney
NSW
2001 Australia
Phone:
61 419 231 533
Precis
|
Taiwan and China have been at loggerheads
since the island broke away from the mainland when the civil war ended 70
years ago but there’s a new militancy in China’s rhetoric towards what it
sees as its renegade province. |
|
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In June this year, a senior Chinese General
publicly issued this warning: “If anyone dares to split Taiwan from China,
our military has no choice but to fight at all costs – for national unity.” |
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In Death Metal Diplomacy, correspondent Bill
Birtles profiles a people and a country under increasing pressure as China’s
power and ambitions in the region grow. |
|
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He meets rock star and politician Freddy
Lim, Taiwan’s answer to Peter Garrett. The charismatic Lim is famous amongst
young people as the front man for cult death metal band Chthonic but now he’s
pushing his message of Taiwanese independence to a broader audience. Banned from playing in Hong Kong and on the
mainland, Lim’s stage is his political platform. “Only if Taiwanese are
united can we overcome all difficulties!” Lim screams to thousands of
fans at a recent concert. |
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But the reality of living in the shadow of
its old enemy means Taiwan still operates as if on a war footing. |
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We capture emergency air raid drills, which
see busy streets empty within minutes. And we’re on Taiwan's beaches for the
country’s annual war games. It's a full dress rehearsal for catastrophe,
fighting off an invasion by China's People's Liberation Army. |
|
|
And we explore China’s hearts and minds
campaign, which, Taiwan says, deploys the weapons of disinformation, fake
news and mainland cash to shape national debate. |
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And we visit the Taiwanese islands of
Kinmen, its last outpost against the mainland, where only a five kilometre
strait separates it from China. Kinmen tea shop owner Wang Ling welcomes the
hordes of Chinese tourists who visit but feels nervous as tensions rise
between the two neighbours. “If China really invaded Kinmen, I would
probably move away,” she says. |
|
|
Echoing the voices of Hong
Kong’s young protestors, Freddy Lim sums up the mood: “We have no choice.
We can't give up because Taiwan is our home. We have nowhere to escape. We
just have to try to protect our way of life.” |
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Title:
|
Music |
00:00 |
Hong
Kong protests INTERCUT WITH Death Metal concert |
|
00:06 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: On the streets of Hong Kong, free
speech in action. This former British
colony was promised limited autonomy after the handover to China in 1997. |
00:16 |
|
Music |
00:28 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: But this is what Hong-Kongers think
of Beijing’s ‘One Country – Two Systems’ style of government. |
00:31 |
Hong
Kong protests |
Music |
00:37 |
Birtles
on street to camera |
BILL BIRTLES:
Two million people took to
the streets here to push back against Beijing’s efforts to exert greater
control. |
00:48 |
Hong
Kong protests |
Music |
00:52 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: But these
Hong Kong protests could be just a prelude to an even bigger confrontation |
00:55 |
Super: |
over the island of
Taiwan. China’s Communist Party regards it as a province that must be brought
under Beijing’s control, even if that means using military force. |
01:00 |
Hong
Kong protests |
Music |
01:09 |
Freddy
Lim on stage |
|
01:14 |
China
Defence Minister |
GENERAL WEI FENGHE:
If anyone dares to split
Taiwan from China, our military has no choice but to fight at all costs. |
01:18 |
Hong
Kong protestors at legislature building |
Music |
01:30 |
|
FOREIGN MINISTER JOSEPH WU: And the Taiwanese
people are seeing all this, phenomenon that the Chinese are getting a tighter
control of Hong Kong. |
01:35 |
Wu
interview. Super: |
And if China is willing to use a military means to
go against Taiwan, I think the people understand that fighting against China
is the ultimate way to go. |
01:44 |
Map
China/Hong Kong/Taiwan |
Music |
01:57 |
Freddy
Lim concert. |
|
02:07 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: A new
generation of Taiwanese nationalists don’t want to sing along to a tune
written by Communist China. |
02:18 |
Freddy
on to stage |
Leading the charge -
Freddy Lim, front man of band Chthonic. Independence activist. Banned from
playing in Hong Kong. He also happens to be a member of Taiwan’s Parliament… |
02:24 |
|
FREDDY ONSTAGE YELLS TO AUDIENCE: “Only if
Taiwanese become united can we overcome all obstacles! |
02:42 |
Band
plays. Super: |
Music |
02:51 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: They’re
dancing ever closer to the so-called Red Line. To cross it -- by Taiwan declaring
independence -- is to invite military invasion. Now, the communist leaders in
Beijing are confronted by death metal diplomacy. |
02:59 |
|
FREDDY LIM: I try to let China and the world understand what
the young people in Taiwan are thinking. Maybe it will piss China off. |
03:15 |
Concert
continues |
BILL BIRTLES: Freddy Lim has harnessed the political
power of youth – a generation that increasingly identifies themselves as
Taiwanese – not Chinese. |
03:30 |
|
He sailed into parliament off the back of a 2014
mass protest called the Sunflower Movement. Students fearing Beijing’s
influence successfully derailed government plans to forge closer trade ties
with China. |
03:40 |
|
FREDDY LIM:
After 2014, after the Sunflower Movement, that it shows Taiwan's young
people will never want to be a part of China in the future. |
03:57 |
Birtles
greets Freddy backstage |
|
04:19 |
Freddy
interview backstage |
BILL BIRTLES: What does it feel like to you to be
on that stage in front of all those people? |
04:21 |
Super: |
FREDDY LIM: I feel like I feel like I can change
the world! (clenches fists) (smiles) because I think all the audience are
with me! |
04:26 |
Military
drill over beach |
Music |
04:35 |
Birtles
puts on protective clothing. Takes seat on stand |
|
04:43 |
Drill
continues |
BILL BIRTLES: On a Taiwanese beach, final
preparations for a very different kind of performance. This annual drill by
Taiwan’s military is a full-dress rehearsal for catastrophe. Fighting off an invasion by China’s
People’s Liberation Army. |
04:50 |
General
Zhongji |
GENERAL CHEN ZHONGJI: We are confident and capable of making the
Chinese Communist Party invasion of Taiwan a failure. |
05:15 |
Air
and tank drill continues |
BILL BIRTLES: Taiwan’s been self-ruled for 70 years
since Chiang Kai-Shek and his national army fled here, after losing China’s
civil war to the communists. For Beijing, the island is unfinished business. |
0521 |
Young
volunteer soldiers |
Conscription is being replaced by a professional,
volunteer force. Behind the scenes,
some of the Next-Gen troops don’t appear too battle-ready. |
05:48 |
Drill
continues |
Much of this hardware is now outdated, the troops
outnumbered. The US is promising
billions of dollars’ worth of new tanks, fighters and missiles – but they’ll
still be no match for China. |
06:04 |
|
China is building warships at unprecedented rates
for peacetime, and its navy is now challenging US dominance of these waters. |
06:23 |
Birtles
to camera on stand at military drill |
”This is all about showing Beijing that if they
ever did really try to invade this island, it would be brutal, it would be
bloody and there would be a massive economic and political price to pay. But
this is just one aspect; there is also the hearts and minds – and the reason
I’ve come here is to answer the question – do the people of this island have
the will to keep withstanding China’s pressure." |
06:38 |
Tanks
fire |
|
07:04 |
Belly
dancers, Taipei |
Music |
07:07 |
Freddy
in campaign jacket. Walking and greeting |
BILL BIRTLES: These days, rock star Freddy Lim
moves to a very different beat. It’s
campaign season. He’s up for re-election in 2020 – and needs to bridge the
generation gap. |
07:14 |
Freddy
on to stage |
FREDDY ON STAGE: "Thank you to the very beautiful
host, hello everyone." |
07:30 |
Audience
listening to Freddy |
FREDDY: Most of the young people, they recognise me
because I'm a singer in a rock band and |
07:41 |
Freddy
interview |
older citizens, they
recognise me because I'm a politician. |
07:49 |
Freddy
in campaign jacket. Walking and greeting |
And also, I'm a judge in
a talent show in Taiwan too. So most of the old people, they like that show.” |
07:53 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: As an independent, Freddy is part of
a coalition that supports the ruling Democratic Progressive Party – a
government cautiously balancing support for independence with the dire
consequences of pushing China too far. |
08:02 |
Birtles
with Foreign Minister Wu. Set up for interview |
Joseph Wu is Taiwan’s Foreign Minister. FOREIGN MINISTER JOSEPH WU: “If you believe in democracy, |
08:19 |
Wu
interview |
I think the people here are already saying,
"We are not interested in unification with China. |
08:27 |
|
But, of course we understand our responsibilities
in preventing war from taking place, on our part. And the current government,
ever since 2016 when we took over, we are taking a very prudent approach
towards China. We try to prevent China from having an excuse to go after
Taiwan, militarily. |
08:32 |
Taipei
GVs |
Music |
08:54 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: On the streets of the capital Taipei,
a reminder of Taiwan’s insecurity. |
09:05 |
VFX Traffic fades off |
UPSOT: AIR RAID SIREN |
09:12 |
People
shelter from rain during air raid drill |
|
09:19 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: 70 years since the war, and the
island still prepares for a Chinese attack. The annual air raid drills now
have an added urgency. China’s growing arsenal of missiles could obliterate
this city with just a few minutes warning. |
09:31 |
Birtles
to camera in rain on empty street |
BILL BIRTLES:
“Well this is really eerie, I
gotta say. This bustling metropolis has just turned into a ghost town when
these air raid sirens began.
Admittedly, the tropical storm had a big part in driving everybody
inside. But we’re now being
told by the police that we need to go inside as well.” |
09:51 |
Policewoman
with Birtles |
A plainclothes policewoman spells out the rules. |
10:10 |
|
POLICEWOMAN: "Any violation will be
fined between $30,000 and $150,000 [Taiwan dollars]." BILL BIRTLES: "I see, everyone's got to take it pretty seriously?" POLICEWOMAN:
"Yes, we have to take it
seriously. Yes." |
10:16 |
|
We can live in a really
liberal country, but even the government cannot guarantee that everything
will be fine, that the peace will last forever. So we have to make
preparation for this." |
10:31 |
People
leave shelter |
UPSOT ALL CLEAR SIREN |
10:47 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: After half an hour, the all clear
sounds and life, for most, goes on. |
10:50 |
Birtles
into Freddy's office |
Freddy: "Hi come
in." Bill: “Freddy, good to
see you again.” Freddy: “And you." Bill: "This is quite
an office. It wasn't quite what I expected. You've got David Bowie on the
wall." Freddy: "I try to
remain as a musician." |
10:58 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: Freddy Lim
has taken an unconventional path to politics. Aside from his Death Metal gig,
he also led Amnesty International in Taiwan. For inspiration, he turns to one of Beijing’s
targets, Tibet’s spiritual leader-in-exile… |
11:14 |
|
Freddy: “Look at my, the
image behind me is Dalai Lama because I always know, when I get nervous or I
cannot find the right decision, I always think about Dalai Lama.” |
11:30 |
|
Bill: "So you’ve got
a rock star background, the Dalai Lama on your wall. What on earth do you
think in Beijing they make of you?" Freddy: "I don’t
think they like me." (laughs) |
11:41 |
Freddy
interview |
FREDDY LIM:
I think the Chinese Government just tried to push the Red Lines every
time when we hold back. They just, again and again. Then, now there's no
lines. There's just about, "If you do anything, then I'll kick your
ass.” |
11:54 |
Return
to military drill |
Music |
12:12 |
Beach
drill soldiers pose for photos |
BILL BIRTLES: Freddy Lim says the immediate threat
comes not from Beijing’s soldiers storming up these beaches – but from
Taiwan’s open, free-wheeling media. |
12:21 |
Montage.
Reporters doing PTCs on beach |
As a member of parliament’s defence and security committee,
he warns some news outlets with links to China relentlessly push a defeatist
message – that reunification is inevitable. |
12:30 |
Drill
continues |
FREDDY LIM: I worry about it very much, especially
in the last two or three years that I can see those medias who got billions
of dollars from China. |
12:50 |
Freddy
interview. Super: |
They try to brainwash Taiwanese people and try to
make good images on China, they try to avoid to people to know what happened
in Tibet and Xinjiang and Hong Kong. |
13:02 |
Foreign
Minister Wu interview |
FOREIGN MINISTER JOSEPH WU: In the course of last year, we have seen
the Chinese |
13:14 |
Super: |
are also engaged in a disinformation campaign
against various government institutions. To create a distrust in the
government, and to create a distrust in the democratic institutions. |
13:18 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: Is it working? Are you worried it's
working? FOREIGN MINISTER JOSEPH WU: We worry, because it's being
deeply entrenched. |
13:31 |
Taipei.
GVs Dusk |
BILL BIRTLES: There’s no doubt that Beijing is
waging an intense hearts and minds campaign here, where, according to the
Taiwanese, the weapons are fake news and lots of mainland cash. |
13:37 |
Birtles
walks with Cole |
J. Michael Cole is a former Canadian intelligence
officer who’s stepped out of the shadows, and is now a Taipei-based security
analyst. |
13:55 |
|
J. Michael Cole:
"It’s a huge intellectual challenge to try to connect the dots
and make sense of what’s going on.” |
14:04 |
|
J MICHAEL COLE:
Disinformation is certainly an area where the Chinese have been very
active, content firms or content mills that employ |
14:11 |
Cole
interview. Super: |
individuals who generate disinformation and then
that disinformation gets recycled by traditional media in Taiwan that are
seen to be pro-Beijing and then that enters the bloodstream in Taiwanese
media environment and can favour certain politicians in elections– for example
– or create confusion about the current leadership in Taiwan, the state of
the economy, the workability of democracy, notions of inevitability when it
comes to unification, the futility of resisting Beijing. |
14:21 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: And they're mass media, are they?
They're popular media in Taiwan. |
14:52 |
|
J MICHAEL COLE: Absolutely, yes. There's one major
group that controls television, print, magazines, whose owner has been making
a fortune in China. And it has been revealed that the Chinese Government has
been funding one of the related companies, to the order of hundreds of
millions of American dollars over the past decade or so. |
14:56 |
|
I don't want to name them, because they have
threatened to sue people who said that they're Beijing mouthpieces. |
15:17 |
Taipei
traffic. Night. Media building exteriors |
BILL BIRTLES: But a recent UK Financial Times
investigation has named them: The Want Want Group, owners of the influential
China Times and the CTi TV channel. Journalists working at the pro-Beijing
outlets reportedly told the Financial Times that their editors take orders
directly from the Chinese Government. The Want Want group denies the
allegations. |
15:22 |
Pro-China
communist street march |
|
15:48 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: Not everyone is so worried about
China’s influence. These local communists actively welcome it. It’s a big day
out for what has long been a fringe element of Taiwanese politics. |
15:54 |
Man
in Mao t-shirt and carrying flag, sings |
During the decades of martial law such overt
displays of support for the People's Republic would have ended in jail or
worse. Now they’re emboldened by Beijing’s increasingly muscular nationalism. |
16:13 |
Wei
Ming-Ren interview |
WEI MING-REN: Taiwan is an inseparable part of
China. Taiwan is part of China since ancient times. Taiwanese are Chinese. |
16:29 |
Wei
Ming-Ren and friends in Red MG singing |
|
16:37 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: Today, Taiwan is a boisterous
democracy and communist leader Wei Ming-Ren sees no contradiction in
exercising his freedom of speech to support a regime where such freedoms are
not tolerated. |
16:47 |
|
WEI MING-REN: These days the whole world often
smears and slanders our Chinese Communist Party. |
17:04 |
|
So fighting for freedom of speech is our party’s
and our Chinese people's right”. |
17:11 |
Wei
Ming-Ren and friends release balloons |
|
17:22 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: Wei Ming-Ren declares he’d be the
first to support any communist troops that land here. |
17:26 |
Wei
Ming-Ren interview |
WEI MING-REN: Whether unify the country via
peacefully or through force, we absolutely support it, and we support the
Communist Party to come to unify Taiwan. Soon! |
17:232 |
Chiang
Kai-Shek Mausoleum. Changing of the guard |
Music |
17:45 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: Political symbolism is everywhere in
Taipei. The nation still pays homage to its founding father Chiang Kai-Shek,
who fought the communists for decades. But the days of his hard-line rule in
Taiwan are long gone. |
17:57 |
Inflatable
tank man in front of mausoleum |
Now Beijing has to contend with the
unpredictability of Taiwanese democracy – and the freedom to protest. Like
this tribute to the unknown tank man from 1989’s bloody Tiananmen Square
crackdown in Beijing. Airbrushed from China’s official history - it’s a lot
for mainland tourists to take in. |
18:16 |
Bill
quizzes mainland tourists |
Bill: "You
know what that is?" Man: "That?
I just asked myself that. It’s a Chinese PLA tank, right?" Bill: "Yes,
it’s got the (PLA) logo." |
18:37 |
|
Man: "It’s
political?" Bill: "Yes,
the ’89 Tiananmen Square anniversary, but I don’t know if mainland tourists
understand it." Man: "They don’t understand it. |
18:47 |
|
It’s a really big
question. Why put a PLA tank here? |
18:59 |
|
This is extremely
reactionary! ‘89 was about anti-terrorism. Anti-terrorism. |
19:06 |
Downtown
Taipei. Night lights. |
Music |
19:12 |
Taipei
streets. Godzilla promotion |
BILL BIRTLES: Military tensions are escalating –
but there’s a bigger campaign being waged on the economic front. |
19:17 |
|
Last year China-Taiwan trade was a staggering $150
billion US dollars. One Taiwanese company employs more than a million workers
in mainland factories making mobile phones. Put simply; it would cost both
sides a lot if Beijing ever went down the conflict route. Military drills and air raid sirens can bring
cities here to a halt, |
19:31 |
Birtles
to camera on street |
but for most people the threat of war with China
just doesn’t seem like a priority. It’s the hip pocket issues people talk
about – the economy. But there is another part of Taiwan where people can
literally see the power of China rising in front of them. And for them, the consequences of a
conflict would be very real and immediate. |
19:55 |
Map.
Taiwan. Kinmen Islands |
Music |
20:17 |
Xiamen
skyline seen from Taiwan's Kinmen |
BILL BIRTLES: This is the view from the Taiwanese
islands of Kinmen. |
20:29 |
Bunker
with model soldier |
Rising up on the mainland -- the Chinese city of
Xiamen. |
20:34 |
Beach
anti-invasion obstacles |
It’s here that the Nationalists of Chiang Kai-Shek
halted the march of Mao’s communists, repelling an invasion in 1949. |
20:41 |
|
But the communist threat loomed large for decades.
The people and soldiers here, quite literally, dug in. |
20:55 |
Propaganda
sound wall on shoreline/ |
Drifting out from old propaganda speakers, pointed
at the mainland, the sound track of Kinmen’s past. |
21:02 |
Tourists
take selfies |
Music |
21:10 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: The soothing melodies of Taiwan’s
most beloved pop star intended to both seduce and annoy the mainlanders. |
21:15 |
Propaganda
sound wall. Mainland tourists in jeeps |
These days the volume’s dialled down. Nostalgia has
replaced hostility. And these obsolete
fortifications have been surrendered to tourism from the mainland. |
21:25 |
Birtles
on clifftop to camera. Xiamen skyline in background |
BILL BIRTLES: “It’s a little bit hazy today, but
that’s China, just five kilometres away – the city of Xiamen. Millions of
people. |
21:10 |
|
China’s influence here is growing really fast.
They’ve just built a pipeline to pump fresh water from the mainland to
Kinmen. Now the government in Beijing is offering to build a bridge linking
the two. Taiwan’s government -- not surprisingly – has said, 'No
thanks'. |
21:49 |
Ferry
approaches Kinmen wharf |
Music |
22:06 |
Ferry
arrives at Kinmen. Shopping tourists on Kinmen streets |
BILL BIRTLES: As relations thawed in 2001, a local
special status deal was struck, allowing citizens from both sides to cross easily
here. Today, mainland day-trippers come over to stock up on duty free booze
and cosmetics -- although China’s now
moving to curtail tourism, to put an economic squeeze on Taiwan’s government.
|
22:11 |
|
For mainlanders there is the chance, when they are
here, to wander the streets of an older, traditional China that’s
fast-disappearing back home. |
22:33 |
|
Music |
22:41 |
Xu Ran plays guitar in tea shop. Wang Ling serves
tea |
|
22:49 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: It’s the
slower pace that’s kept tea shop owner Wang Ling in Kinmen. She’s a local,
but her husband Xu Ran, is not just from China, but from its capital
Beijing. |
22:52 |
|
WANG LING: When I was a child, Kinmen and Chinese
mainland are so close, |
23:07 |
Wang Ling interview |
while I knew there were two different governments,
I did not think we were different. |
23:16 |
Wang Ling serves tea |
Now I don't call myself Chinese, because I started
to understand the meaning of being Chinese. I see myself as Taiwanese. |
23:23 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: On the mainland, the idea that Taiwan
is an inseparable part of China is taught and reinforced from a young age.
But Wang Ling says politics hasn’t got in the way of their marriage. |
23:38 |
Wang Ling interview |
WANG LING: Indeed, this is a very strange
situation, but I think we can be together because of our personalities. |
23:51 |
Xu
Ran playing guitar in tea shop |
Xu Ran can live here, but
he’s forbidden from taking Taiwanese citizenship if he ever wants to return
home again. |
24:02 |
Xu
Ran interview |
XU RAN: My
parents didn’t want me to move to Kinmen, but they respect my decision. |
24:15 |
Wang Ling and Xu Ran in tea shop |
We talk about politics but not much. |
24:20 |
Xu
Ran interview |
I'm not interested in politics. You asked whether
we have any arguments. There are none. |
24:28 |
Lion
Dance and parade ceremony |
Music |
24:37 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: Kinmen still has a very traditional
feel to it. |
24:43 |
|
The Lion Dance brings fortune and good luck, and
people here want that to continue. |
24:49 |
|
But many – particularly the older generations --
believe proximity to China may mean future compromise. |
24:56 |
Shopping
street lined by Taiwanese flags on one side – China flags on the other |
BILL BIRTLES: How do you feel, being in a part of
Taiwan with the Chinese flag everywhere? |
25:06 |
Birtles
walks with Wang Ling |
WANG LING: Actually, I don’t like that. I know it's
some elders, he do that. And he think it symbolise peace. But I don’t think
peace is that easy. |
25:14 |
|
The elder people think it's okay, it's not
necessary, because they really don’t want a battle again. BILL BIRTLES: So there's a generational split? WANG LING: Yes. |
25:26 |
Pathe
newsreel |
|
25:37 |
|
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
“A cargo of newsmen is flown into the hottest spot on earth! Quemoy
Island off the Chinese mainland. No
sooner landed, the reporters take to the hills and relative safety." |
25:40 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: In 1958, China attempted to level
this place – also known as Quemoy – firing nearly half a million artillery
shells in one month. |
25:50 |
|
NEWSREEL NARRATOR: “This way to the bomb shelter! A
much-frequented chamber for the residents of Quemoy!” |
26:00 |
Anti-invasion
beach obstacles |
Music |
26:05 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: Failing to dislodge the Taiwanese, |
26:11 |
View
of Xiamen across water |
the Communists then shelled Kinmen – every second
day – for 20 years. With Taiwan returning fire on alternate days. |
26:13 |
Wang
Ling and Birtles in knife shop |
|
26:23 |
Artillery
shells |
Bill:
"Look at this. Are these original shells from the sixties and
seventies?” Wang Ling:
"Yes. Yes." |
26:28 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: Bizarrely, many of the communist
shells weren’t armed with explosives – but propaganda messages – creating a
new cottage industry – making knives. |
26:34 |
|
Bill: "That is so heavy!" (laughs) Wang Ling: "Yes, it's so heavy!" |
26:43 |
|
Bill:
"So these are all from these have been dug up from the
island?" Wang Ling: "Yes. |
26:46 |
Man
making knife |
BILL BIRTLES: Locals say the shelling only stopped
in 1978, after the US severed diplomatic links with Taiwan and recognised the
Communists as China’s legitimate government. |
26:50 |
|
Wang Ling: "Cut the shell into the small
piece." Bill: "Like this." Wang Ling: "Yeah, like this. This big. |
27:02 |
|
And then they will hit it… Bill: "Beat it into shape." Wang Ling: "Yes, and it will become like this. |
27:08 |
Birtles
holding knife. |
Bill: Is it good quality?... Of course!" |
27:13 |
Tourists
at Kinmen beach fortifications |
Music |
27:18 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: No one seriously believes Kinmen
could hold out against the might of the People’s Republic. But without firing
a shot, China’s economic might – and the islands proximity to the mainland --
means that Beijing has in one sense already prevailed here. |
27:26 |
Beach
obstacles |
Music |
27:40 |
Wang
Ling and Xu Ran walk hand in hand along beach |
BILL BIRTLES: Wang Ling and many other young locals
now fear the hard logic of realpolitik. That their island home is ultimately
expendable – a political bargaining chip that Taiwan might one day trade in
return for peace with China. |
27:47 |
|
WANG LING:
(Kinmen) might be given away as a bargaining chip – to compromise. |
28:04 |
Wang
Ling interview |
I’m actually very worried about this. I have been
thinking if that day came, would I stay in Kinmen? It is really hard since I
was born and grew up here. |
28:10 |
Wang
Ling and Xu Ran on beach by half buried tank |
They’ve watched Hong Kong and seen broken promises
for democracy. |
28:26 |
|
WANG LING: If China actually invaded Kinmen, I
probably would move away. Yes, I’d move. |
28:30 |
Taipei
skyline. Night |
Music |
28:41 |
Freddy
Lim concert |
|
28:44 |
|
BILL BIRTLES: But Freddy Lim and his fans aren’t
going anywhere. |
28:54 |
|
And each year, Chinese pressure grows, bringing the
dilemma ever closer. To compromise with Beijing or risk conflict by asserting
Taiwan’s independence? |
29:01 |
|
FREDDY LIM: The people like me, we have no choice,
we can't give up, because Taiwan is our home, we have nowhere to escape. We
just have to try to protect our way of life.” |
29:18 |
Credits
start over [see below] |
|
29:41 |
Out
point after credits |
|
30:10 |
REPORTER
Bill Birtles
PRODUCERS
Mark Corcoran
Cecily Huang
CAMERA
Brant Cumming
Steve Wang
EDITORS
Stuart Miller
Garth Thomas
ADDITION
VISION
Wake Up Festival
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
Michelle Roberts
PRODUCTION
CO-ORDINATOR
Victoria Allen
PRODUCTION
ASSISTANCE
Nelson Roo
EXECUTIVE
PRODUCER
Matthew Carney
Foreign
Correspondent
abc.net.au/foreign
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© 2019 Australian Broadcasting Corporation