Taiwan s sleepy former military outpost islands are gambling on a $2 bn billion US dollar makeover. The chain of islands on Taiwan s frontline is about to be turned into a a luxury beach resort and casino after a US bid was approved. These remote islands off Taiwan are facing a gamble about their future. In early July Matsu residents voted 57 to 43 in favour of the development of a luxury beach resort and casino in this former military outpost. The sleepy villages are a popular tourist destination to see traditional style Fujian houses and enjoy some peace away from the big city. Now that peace could be threatened by the building and infrastructure from the casinos. The scale of the casino project seems almost certain to overwhelm one of Asia s charming backwaters a picture post card collection of 36 islands and islets that boast stunning natural beauty and very little else. 55-year-old Cheng Yu-lan s family has lived on the islands for six generations. She is in two minds about the $2 billion bonanza about to wash over the tiny offshore Taiwanese archipelago. The cash bonanza that seems set to change it beyond all recognition. With such important changes looming for their placid island home it s no wonder that Cheng and many of her fellow islanders are of two minds about the development even though it promises to provide every one of Matsu s 7000 permanent residents a monthly payment of 80000 New Taiwan dollars $2666 US dollars five years after it opens. At the traditional tea shop Cheng Yu-lan says the casino will provide much-needed work for the islanders but is uncertain about the impact of the casino on the young and worries that the traditional way of life could be destroyed. I think there are both pros and cons good points and bad With the Weidner gambling development the good points are that young people will now have work and old people will receive eighty-thousand every month. But the bad point is that the gambling could adversely affect the young generation on Matsu Island she says. A key lure of the project for her and other islanders says Cheng is the prospect of employment for Matsu s young people many of whom now leave Matsu to seek employment on mainland Taiwan. Over the past 20 years the local economy has been decimated by the withdrawal of upward of 90 percent of its former military garrison of more than 10000. It now depends on a modest tourist industry that attracts 50000-100000 visitors a year and the micro-manufacturing of low-sale items like sorghum-based liquor and sesame pastries. Still she says she worries about the kind of jobs they will be available - almost everyone understands that management positions and other high end employment will be monopolised by outsiders at least at first limiting locals to work like food service and card dealing - and about the possible introduction of drugs and organized crime onto the islands things that she understands have happened in other gambling centres. T

• published: 01 Nov 2013
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