Escaping Xi's China by paddleboard: 'I rushed into the water and thought if they catch me, they catch me'

[eShirl]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/24/dissidents-escaping-china-xi-jinping-regime

Li entered the heavily guarded waters that span the shortest distance between China and Taiwan. As a surfer, he says he was confident on the board and the water was calm, but it was January, and cold. He passed by what he says were Chinese alarm systems, setting one off.

“It started blaring. I became very nervous at that moment, and I paddled away from that location as fast as I could.”

Hours later, he could sense land in front of him. He arrived on an empty island beach in the Kinmen archipelago, which belongs to Taiwan but sitting is just over three miles from China.

“When I arrived at the Kinmen beach, the wave knocked me off the board. But at the same time, I saw the Blue Tears, it was so beautiful,” he says, referring to the seasonal phenomena of bioluminescence. “Each wave carried blue light, and it made me really happy to see it.”

[FakeNoose]

1. This is an amazing story - it reminds me of "Papillon"

Screenshot from OP:


How lucky for dissident Chinese that Kinmen Island is so close to the Chinese mainland that it's actually swimmable, or surfable.