The Taiwanese frontline island of Quemoy has shot from obscurity as a symbol of co-operation between Beijing and Taipei.

Troubled cross-strait relations ensured international attention on the first legal crossing from Taiwanese territory to the mainland in more than 50 years.

Leading the party on the January 2 voyage was the most senior official on Quemoy, magistrate Chen Shui-tsai. Watching him arrive in Xiamen, from TV in his home of Quanzhou, was a great-grandfather who claims the Taiwanese official has illegally usurped his job.

Liang Xinmin, 84, says he is the only legitimate magistrate of the island, off the coast of Fujian. He was appointed to the post 47 years ago by the Communist Party. History and politics conspired to deny him the chance to set up an administration on the island, according to his job brief in 1954.

'For 50 years, I am still the magistrate of Quemoy. I have no predecessor and I have no successor, and they [the Communist Party] have never removed my title as Quemoy magistrate,' the frail old man said firmly.

A veteran communist who participated in underground activities to overthrow the rule of the Kuomintang before 1949, Mr Liang said there were high hopes in the early 1950s that the People's Liberation Army would be able to take the island. The communists saw a military strike as a means of using the island as a springboard to launch a war against the Kuomintang in Taiwan.

Amid the optimism, Mr Liang, then 35, was given the mission to lead an administration of several dozen officials and some 100 security guards to set up a government on Quemoy - once the PLA had finished its work.

After some heavy exchanges of fire between the two sides, Mr Liang's dream was dashed after Beijing shelved the plan to take over Taiwan and the offshore islands by force following the intervention of the United States navy.

'I trespassed on Quemoy before my appointment. At that time, ferries sailing between

Xiamen and Quanzhou always stopped over in Quemoy, and passengers were allowed to spend an hour on the island. I have never lived in Quemoy though.'

The only duty Mr Liang has taken up as Quemoy magistrate was to lead a team of officials to visit troops stationed on three small islands close to Quemoy - Dadeng, Xiaodeng and Jiaoyu. The communist-appointed Quemoy magistrate could only catch a glimpse of his island from afar while on Dadeng.

Mr Liang was deputy head of Nanan county government when he was appointed Quemoy magistrate. He later took up posts in the Jinjiang government and became headmaster of Jinjiang medical school in 1965. During the Cultural Revolution, Mr Liang was labelled a spy by the Red Guards and stripped of his positions. But his Quemoy magistrate title was never removed.

Not willing to talk about the painful past, Mr Liang, a father of five with 28 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, now lives in a spacious apartment bought by a daughter working in Hong Kong.

But he insisted that he would not hesitate to take the three-hour voyage to Quemoy, if given permission. 'Quemoy is always lingering in my mind. We welcome Quemoy people to come but we are not allowed to go.'

So far only a handful Xiamen residents with relatives in Quemoy have sailed to the island under the so-called 'mini-three links'.

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