Wuqiu: An Outlying Island among Outlying Islands, a Forgotten Military Islet under the Shadow of Nuclear Waste

30-second overview:
Wuqiu is the most unusual "isolated island" on Taiwan's administrative map. Composed of Daqiu and Xiaoqiu, it has a total area of only 1.2 square kilometers. It is administratively managed by Kinmen, but its transportation and daily supplies depend entirely on the Port of Taichung. This island was once a frontline guerrilla base in the Kuomintang-Communist confrontation. Today, because of the Wuqiu Lighthouse, relit after 66 years of darkness, and a nuclear waste siting controversy that has lasted 20 years, it has once again become a miniature of Taiwan's subjectivity and of sacrifice imposed on the margins.

At Pier 5A of the Port of Taichung, late on a Wednesday night every fifteen days, a group of unusual passengers appears. They are neither tourists heading abroad nor ordinary people returning home, but passengers preparing to board the military-chartered transport vessel Kinmen Express and cross seventy-two nautical miles of the Black Ditch to return to a home almost forgotten on the map: Wuqiu.¹

The voyage takes five hours. As the vessel slowly approaches the islands of Daqiu and Xiaoqiu, passengers must "jump ship" at sea and transfer to small boats before they can land. Administratively, this place belongs to Kinmen, yet it lies seventy nautical miles from Kinmen. Geographically, it is very close to Meizhou Island in Fujian, China, only twenty nautical miles away in a straight line. This peculiar configuration of "geographic proximity, administrative distance, and a lifeline tied to Taiwan" defines Wuqiu's lonely fate as an "outlying island among outlying islands."²

Relit after Sixty-Six Years: The Southern Edge of the Border

At the highest point of Daqiu Island in Wuqiu stands a deep-black stone lighthouse. Built in 1874, Wuqiu Lighthouse was designed by the British engineer David Marr Henderson and was once one of the most important navigation markers in the Taiwan Strait.³ In 1951, however, because of military considerations during the Chinese Civil War, the garrison ordered the light extinguished so that the lighthouse would not become a target for enemy attack.

Once extinguished, it stayed dark for sixty-six years.

"Restoring the light is a matter for the state, and upgrading it to a national historic monument is also a matter for the state. Yet these lighthouse matters have always seemed to be only the Gao family's business in Wuqiu," the Wuqiu cultural-history worker Gao Danhua lamented.⁴ Gao Danhua's father, Gao Jinzhen, was the last keeper of the Wuqiu Lighthouse. Beginning in 1959, he guarded the lighthouse for forty-two years, and tending the light became an obsession across three generations of the Gao family. Through her advocacy and the efforts of many others, Wuqiu Lighthouse was finally relit on July 23, 2017. That beam of light brought this isolated island, sealed off under military control for half a century, back into Taiwanese public view.⁵

Hinghwa and Seaweed: Bloodlines Severed by the Military

Walking through the streets of Wuqiu, the first thing that often startles outsiders is the language. Residents use Puxian, also known as Hinghwa, in everyday conversation; it is mutually unintelligible with both Kinmen speech and Minnan.⁶ Most residents trace their ancestral origins to Putian in Fujian and share roots with the fishers of Meizhou Island. Before 1949, fishers on the two sides moved back and forth frequently and even shared the same fishing grounds.

The Iron Curtain of the Cold War, however, cut this bloodline in two. Wuqiu became a guerrilla base after the evacuation of the Dachen evacuees, and then entered four decades of wartime military administration. Every blade of grass, every tree, every word, and every act on the island came under military control. Today, Wuqiu has a registered population of around six hundred, but only a few dozen people live on the island year-round, the vast majority of them elderly.⁷

The main pillar of the local economy is wild seaweed. The seaweed is harvested only once a year. In the biting sea winds of the northeast monsoon, residents must climb reefs, and sometimes rappel by rope, to harvest these entirely wild "seaweed fields" by hand. The hard-won "Wuqiu seaweed" has become the islanders' only link with their hometown, and also a sign of the resilience they have shown on barren land.⁸

Residues of the Anti-Communist National Salvation Army and Military Administration

Wuqiu's history is inseparable from the military. In the 1950s, it was a base for the "Fujian Anti-Communist National Salvation Army," gathering large numbers of guerrillas who had retreated from China as well as Dachen evacuees.⁹ During those years, Wuqiu was the forward edge of the project to "retake China," and the islands were covered with fortifications and land mines.

Although martial law was lifted in the Kinmen and Matsu region in 1992 and wartime military administration ended, Wuqiu's extremely sensitive geographic position means it still retains a highly militarized character. The island's administration, supply lines, and even medical care remain deeply bound to military operations. This "military-civilian unity" has ensured the survival of the isolated island, but it has also limited the possibilities for local development. For the younger generation, Wuqiu is a place they "cannot return to, yet cannot stay in."

The Shadow of Nuclear Waste: The Referendum Problem of the Majority Bullying the Minority

The most severe challenge Wuqiu faces comes from underground. In 1998, Taipower announced Xiaoqiu Islet in Wuqiu as a proposed site for a "final disposal facility for low-level radioactive waste."¹⁰ The decision triggered a struggle that has lasted twenty years.

"If it is really that safe, then just find any place and put it underneath the Presidential Office." This protest line, which appeared in the anti-nuclear-waste movement on Lanyu, also reflects how Wuqiu residents feel.¹¹ The deeper predicament Wuqiu faces lies in institutional injustice. Under the Referendum Act, a nuclear waste site must be decided by a local referendum, but Wuqiu is administered by Kinmen County, and the referendum unit is the "county." This means that people in Kinmen, seventy nautical miles away and never beneficiaries of Wuqiu, may be able to decide Wuqiu residents' fate through a vote.

This is a typical case of "the majority bullying the minority." For Wuqiu residents, they must not only face the pressure of life on the front line of military confrontation, but also bear the cost of sacrifice behind national development.¹²

Conclusion: The Lighthouse Is Lit. But Where Are the People?

Today's Wuqiu still maintains a special form of military-civilian coexistence. Although wartime military administration was lifted long ago, because transportation remains extremely inconvenient and residues of military control persist, it still resembles an isolated island frozen in time.

After the lighthouse was relit, that beam has continued to sweep across the Taiwan Strait every night. It reminds the world that beyond Taiwan's bustling main island, there remains such a place: guarding the loneliest border, speaking the oldest language, and, under the shadow of nuclear waste, striving to protect the small measure of dignity that belongs to home.

Further reading:

• Gao Danhua, _Seeing the Wuqiu Lighthouse_ book launch, Kinmen County Government.
• _Nuclear Waste Musical Chairs_, PTS _Our Island_.
• Official website of Wuqiu Township Office: History.

References