Flashpoint Kinmen: Prelude to Invasion
November 5, 2022

Time: 5:00 JST

The first domino has fallen.

Shina PLA marines and paratroopers confirmed the seizure of the Kinmen Islands after a quick and successful operation against Taiwanese forces. Taiwanese defenses, outnumbered and outgunned, were overwhelmed in a swift and brutal engagement.

The Kinmen Islands are located only 10 km (6 mi) east from the Shina city of Xiamen.

Shina attempted to seize the Islands in October 1949, during which thousands of PRC soldiers were captured and killed. They would try again in the days of the Korean War, when hundreds of ROC soldiers defeated a PRC invasion attempt of 700. During the 1960 U.S. presidential elections, candidates J.F.K. and Nixon differed on whether the U.S. should protect the "Quemoy (Kinmen) and Matsu" island chains, with Nixon urging complete support for the Republic of China and all territorial possession she maintained.

The fall of Kinmen guarantees that this blockade of Taiwan is no mere intimidation tactic, as some pacifist groups have suggested, but the precursor to all-out war.

Nippon has reinforced the island chain of Senkaku, to which Shina also lays claim. If Shina invades Taiwan, it is expected they will make an invasion attempt of Okinawa and Senkaku. Soldiers with barely any training have been stripped from the academies, handed small arms, and sent to fortification sites. Divisions with only a third of the MBTs they should have are expected to hold the islands against Shina invasion.

This is no longer a regional dispute isolated to Taiwan. It is the opening chapter of a Pacific war.

Every hour counts now in preparing for the formal declaration of war and main invasion by PRC troops.