From the Kinmen Islands, a Taiwanese outpost just three kilometers at its closest point from China, residents can stand on a beach and look across at the growing forest of skyscrapers in the Chinese city of Xiamen. But far from feeling threatened by their proximity to the country that vows to "reunify" with Taiwan — by force if necessary — most Kinmen residents say they feel safer on China's doorstep than they would on the main island of Taiwan.