Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 30 November, 2018
By: Charlie Storrar

Cell phone footage captured colorful scenes in the night sky over Nangan in Taiwan’s Matsu Islands on Thursday evening. But these sparks are not fireworks but tracer rounds from anti-aircraft machine guns.

The Matsu Islands, like Kinmen further to the south, lie just off the coast of mainland China and are defended by local military garrisons. Every year they conduct regular live-fire tests of their weapons – in this case, Browning .50 caliber machine guns mounted on CM21 armored vehicles.

Such sights are a rarity for visitors to Matsu from Taiwan proper. But local residents have long been accustomed to the exercises, and they spend their evenings as normal, walking and exercising in the park while the tracer fire lights up the night around them.     [FULL  STORY]