War By Other Means

With Xi Jinping focused on reunification at the earliest, China is trying aggressively to influence the outcome of the January 13 elections in Taiwan

- NAMRATA BIJI AHUJA/TAIPEI

Vincent Chiang, 58, a marine officer-turned-tour guide, has not explored the unique abundance of mighty mountains and pristine beaches dotting Taiwan's coastline. Instead, he puts his visitors on a musical bus that plays Enigma's 'Return to Innocence' (based on a native Taiwanese chant), taking them to ultra-urban destinations like Taipei 101 that light up the island's skyline and produce as many microchips that can power every iPad, iPhone and MacBook in the world.

The joyride is broken intermittently with Vincent pointing towards a big map inside the bus. Even though Taiwan is full of mountains and beaches, those were out of bounds for a long, long time under martial law, he said. A lot of people of my generation can neither swim nor go hiking even today. Isn't it ridiculous? As a boy growing up in Tainan, the oldest city on the island, Vincent promised family elders that he would neither swim nor hike lest he is mistaken for a dissident trying to flee. He kept his promise, but some others did not. In 1979, Justin Yifu Lin, who was doing his mandatory military service on Kinmen island, just off the mainland, dived into the sea and dramatically swam 2,000 metres to reach China.

He wanted to escape the oppressive Kuomintang (KMT) regime founded by Chiang Kai-shek who retreated to Taiwan after his army's defeat in the Chinese civil war in 1949. Building a new life in Beijing, Lin grew to become a chief economist at the World Bank. His story of defection continues to be a living example of the deep cross-strait divide and the claim of the islanders that China and Taiwan don't belong to each other.