Kinmen Defense Command

The Golden Gate Defense Department is responsible for operational command tasks in the Kinmen area. The defense area includes 12 islands of various sizes, such as Great Kinmen, Little Kinmen, Dadan, Erdan and Huzai Island. As of 2013 the combat forces under the Ministry of Defense include the 119th, 127, and 158th garrison brigades, the 584th armored brigade, and the 101st amphibious reconnaissance battalion (ow). Engineer battalion, chemical battalion, etc.; the service support unit has a logistics support command.

Kinmen Defense Command (Former 12th Army) was Formed in Zhejiang Province and moved to Kinmen in 1949. In the same year, 12th Army reorganized and became Kinmen Defense Headquarter in December, Belonged to Southeast Military Administration. After the Administration Dissolved in 1950, The Kinmen Defense Headquarter was taken over by Ministry of National Defense, and supported by Army Headquarter. KDC is in charge of the defense mission at the first line of Taiwan; it won the Battle of Guningtou and the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, and Established the Peace between Taiwan and Mainland. Due to ROC Armed Forces reorganization in 2006, the title of the Crops has renamed as “Kinmen Defense Command.”

Located on Kinmen Island, the Kinmen Defense Command was long the very front line in its defence against any Chinese assault. The Kuomintang (KMT) always regarded Jinmen, only 16km from Xiamen along the Fujian coast, as pivotal to Taiwan's defence. Some 20,000 Nationalist troops in Jinmen, commanded by General Li Liangrong, fought for three days from 24 October 1949 to repel an assault by the People's Liberation Army (PLA). They wiped out all 9,000 soldiers of the PLA's 28th Army, which had amassed 100,000 troops near Xiamen for what was thought to be an easy takeover. After this decisive victory, KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek declared that without Jinmen, there would be no Taiwan.

Prior to the reorganization of ROCA in the late 1990s and 2000s, the Kinmen Defense Command had four divisions subordinate to its headquarters.

By 2004 the Kinmen Defense Command was comprised of three infantry brigades, an armor brigade and an artillery command. The KDC also has two companies from the 101st Amphibious Recon. Battalion.

The Chen Shui-bian administration decided to withdraw, starting from 01 January 2005, some 10,000 troops from Kinmen. This would leaving just 5,000 soldiers there, which some took as a a signal that Taiwan was unable - or unwilling - to defend the island. Jinmen residents were aggrieved by Taipei's decision to cut troop deployment there, since they depend largely on soldiers rotated through the island for their livelihood. Jinmen's magistrate, Lee Chu-feng, suggested that Jinmen should emulate Hong Kong by embracing "one country, two systems."