It's been decades since artillery shells landed on the strategic frontline island of Kinmen, at the height of the China-Taiwan civil war, but now a new battle rages as garbage from the Chinese mainland washes up on Kinmen's shore.
KIMMEN, Taiwan -- It's been decades since artillery shells landed on this strategic frontline island at the height of the China-Taiwan civil war, but now a new battle rages as garbage from the Chinese mainland washes up on Kinmen's shore.
Bottles, plastic bags, rags and effluent from China is washing up on the otherwise pristine beaches of the Taiwan-controlled, sub-tropical island of Kinmen, better known in the West as Quemoy.
"We see Kinmen as a victim," said county Magistrate Lee Juh-feng. "It's going to need some time. It's not a problem you can solve all at once."
Wind-driven ocean currents from China's booming coastal city of Xiamen, only about 2 km (1.25 miles) away, bring garbage across a sea channel that decades ago was the scene of fierce fighting between China and Taiwan during a protracted civil war.
The problem gets worse when it rains, as storms bring extra-large onslaughts from the mouth of the nearby Jiulong River in China.
The battle is a new one for Kinmen, which became the front-line defence outpost for the Nationalists after they lost a civil war to the Communists and fled to Taiwan in 1949, retaining control of the island along with another island chain off the China coast.
Authorities on Kinmen clean up trash from China every week and armies of volunteers collect garbage from the beaches every few months.
Local authorities get $122,000 in funds from Taipei per year just to clean up garbage, a government-run magazine reported in January. About 800 tonnes of trash were cleared off island beaches last year alone, the magazine said.
"Pollution, of course, doesn't stop at the boundaries," said Ma Jun, director of the non-governmental Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in Beijing.
"It will have resulting global impacts."
IRKING NEIGHBORS
Kinmen residents aren't the only ones complaining about trash from their bigger neighbour. China's refuse also contaminates sea water and fouls the air in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong.
South Korean fishermen have complained about polluted waters, and their government is investigating pollution from China in the Yellow and East China seas, said Park Sun-yong, an official with the fisheries ministry.
"There is no border in the sea, so we cannot say how much water pollution is coming from China," said Park.
"However, we're investigating with China on the Yellow Sea's environmental condition."
Seoul and Tokyo have also complained about dust storms that blow in from northern China in March and April almost every year. Eroded soil from China's over-grazed and deforested north-central plains adds dust to storms that originate in Mongolia.
In Hong Kong, many suspect the city's near-constant haze originates in the heavily industrialised Pearl River Delta region of southern China. Recent reports also say pollution is threatening Hong Kong's mangrove trees.
Any clean-up will take an international effort, a Beijing-based environmental expert said, since the pollution comes in part from at least 60 foreign firms and an unknown number of Taiwan and Hong Kong firms with factories in China.
"Things are complex, because China is manufacturing to the rest of the world," said Ma Jun of the non-governmental Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in Beijing. "I myself believe that pointing fingers is not the way to deal with this."
China's economy grew 10.7 percent in 2006, with manufacturing providing much of the boost. But it ranked No. 100 of 118 nations in environmental protection, the state-run China Daily reported.
Back on Kinmen, local officials say they mention the trash to China whenever they meet counterparts in Fujian province, across the straits from the Taiwan province.
But the Chinese say it's not their problem, said Lee Shang-ren, a tour guide and environmental volunteer.
"I've talked to them a bunch of times, and it's a lot of trouble," Lee said. "They don't care, but we think it's serious." (Additional reporting by Jang Sera in Seoul and John Ruwitch in Hong Kong.)
Source: Reuters
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