Taiwan to Completely Clear Mines Near the Mainland

This is good news.  Long overdue but a big step on the long road toward a formal peace pact.

Excerpted from AFP:  In yet another sign of warming ties with former rival China, Taiwan said Monday that all landmines laid on the frontline islands off the mainland during the 1950s will be removed within six months.

The shores of Kinmen and Matsu, two Taiwan-controlled island groups sitting just a few kilometres away from the southeastern Chinese province of Xiamen, were carpeted with tens of thousands of mines after the two sides split in 1949, at the end of the Chinese Civil War.

The mines had been used as critical weapons by the the Kuomintang troops to fend off several major onslaughts launched by the Chinese communist forces during the 1950s, but have now emerged as a barrier against the ever closer ties between the former cross-strait foes.

“All the mines on Kinmen and Matsu are expected to be removed before the year’s end,” said President Ma Ying-jeou, the initiator of the ongoing detente with Beijing, according to a statement released by the presidential office.

Taiwan’s defence ministry spokesman David Lo told AFP that the de-mining project, launched six years ago, will be completed around six months ahead of the schedule.

This is good news.  Long overdue but a big step in the long road toward a formal peace pact.

Excerpted from AFP:  In yet another sign of warming ties with former rival China, Taiwan said Monday that all landmines laid on the frontline islands off the mainland during the 1950s will be removed within six months.

The shores of Kinmen and Matsu, two Taiwan-controlled island groups sitting just a few kilometres away from the southeastern Chinese province of Xiamen, were carpeted with tens of thousands of mines after the two sides split in 1949, at the end of the Chinese Civil War.

The mines had been used as critical weapons by the the Kuomintang troops to fend off several major onslaughts launched by the Chinese communist forces during the 1950s, but have now emerged as a barrier against the ever closer ties between the former cross-strait foes.

“All the mines on Kinmen and Matsu are expected to be removed before the year’s end,” said President Ma Ying-jeou, the initiator of the ongoing detente with Beijing, according to a statement released by the presidential office.

Taiwan’s defence ministry spokesman David Lo told AFP that the de-mining project, launched six years ago, will be completed around six months ahead of the schedule.