Taiwan's Remote Islands Are On The Frontline With China

Business Insider: Taiwan's remote islands are on the frontline with China — sometimes only a few hundred yards from Chinese troops 

* Taiwan is roughly 100 miles from mainland China, but some Taiwanese islands are much closer. 

* Amid rising tensions, those islands are increasingly vulnerable to attack from China's military. 

* Taiwan's outlying islands would stand little chance against China, but they wouldn't be easy to take. 

October marked the 73rd anniversary of the Battle of Guningtou, when Chinese Nationalist forces defeated an attempt by Chinese Communist forces to capture Kinmen, an offshore island that was seen as a stepping-stone toward Taiwan. 

While celebrated, this year's anniversary was also a reminder of Taiwan's islands' growing vulnerability to Chinese attack. 

In addition to the main island of Taiwan, Taipei controls five islands or island chains: Kinmen, the Mastu Islands, and the Penghu archipelago in the Taiwan Strait, and the Pratas Islands, also known as the Dongsha Islands, and Itu Aba, also known as Taiping Island, both in the South China Sea.  

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WNU Editor: China is training hard to be able to take these islands by force .... China's military has been spending a lot more time working on how to forcefully capture an island, Pentagon says (Insider).