TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Five councilors on Kinmen, the closest of Taiwan’s outlying islands to China, have submitted a petition to the island’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters calling for the county to be turned into a permanent demilitarized zone, per CNA.

The petition is a collaboration between the Kinmen Non-party Alliance (金門縣議會無黨籍聯盟) the Kinmen Inter-party Alliance (金門縣議會跨黨派問政聯盟). Leader of the Inter-party Alliance Chen Yang-hu (陳泱瑚) said that Kinmen residents had reached an anti-war “consensus” motivating the two alliances to come together and submit the petition.

Earlier this month, CNA reported the councilors' concern over mounting tensions between China, Taiwan, and the U.S., saying that they did not want history to repeat itself, referencing the heavy shelling endured over the course of two Taiwan Strait Crises throughout the 1950s. At the height of the conflict, 120,000 Taiwan soldiers were stationed there.

The letter said the petitioners wanted demilitarization of the island in order to take full advantage of the opportunities for open exchange between the two sides of the strait. The petitioners also said that a bridge should be built between Kinmen and the nearby Chinese city of Xiamen roughly 10km away, saying this would be a catalyst for ongoing positive cross-strait exchanges.

Chairman of the Kinmen DPP branch Tsai Chi-yung (蔡其雍) said that the petition will be forwarded to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the DPP’s Central Committee, and the Cabinet for consideration.