Taiwan faces constant threats from Chinese invasion, but footage of actors loading artillery weapons has been circulated in fake posts claiming it shows a real Taiwan military exercise. It shows that the use of howitzers occurred in previous military facilities and has since been transformed into a tourist destination.
“Taiwanese soldiers stationed on Kinmen Island are practicing how to attack mainland China,” wrote in a post on X on November 3, 2024.
Screenshot of fake post, captured on March 3, 2025
Since Mao Zedong’s communist army won the civil war, China and Taiwan have been ruled separately and in 1949, opposition nationalist forces were sent to flee the strait (repository link).
Beijing has been persevering since the island is part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to control it.
Similar posts by X and Douyin were also exacerbated by the deployment of fighter jets and naval ships around Taiwan (archived links).
But this shows a replay of how howitzers are used in tourist attractions in Kinmen.
Keyword search found a report on Chinese mainland women with Taiwanese spouses who performed at Kinmen in October 2021 (archive link).
The performances seen in the loop video correspond to the performances in the Phoenix TV report.
Further searches found that according to the Kinmen County Tourism Bureau website (Archived Link), the show was held at the Shishan Howitzer Front in Kinmen, which was converted into a tourist location in 2011.
Comparison of screenshots of corresponding images from the False X Post (L) and Kinmen County Tourism Department website
With Mao Zedong’s Communist troops bombing Kinmen, the howitzer used by the Taiwanese troops in 1958 showed off the howitzer of the Taiwanese troops. Artillery exercises are held every day except Thursday.
AFP also released a video on October 30, 2020, which included the performance.
AFP has revealed misinformation from and from the cross-border tensions here.
