Guardian of China’s 1st line of defence dies

BEIJING:FEW in 1986 wanted to take up the lonely job of guarding the remote Kaishan island in the Yellow Sea off China’s east coast.

Before the offer came to Wang Jicai, four others did agree to do it but they only lasted about two weeks each. The conditions were harsh — fierce winds battered the rocky island, there was no telephone line and supplies were delivered by boat. Mostly it was the loneliness: There was no one else on the island.

Wang took up the offer. He lasted 32 years on the job until he died last week at 59.

Standing guard with him – watching ships go by near Yanwei port at the junction of Japanese and South Korean international waters – was his wife, Wang Shihua. She quit her job as a primary school teacher to join him within months of his posting. According to the Guanyun county government, Wang said he always believed the island was an inalienable part of China, and the country’s first line of defence.

“He promised to protect it always. It's a promise he kept. None of his four predecessors stayed longer than 13 days before quitting because of the harsh conditions,” the state-run China Daily newspaper reported.

“Wang Jicai is the pride of Guanyun county and a hero of our era. He always held the belief that guarding the island was part of protecting the whole nation,” Zhu Xingbo, head of the county government, was quoted as saying at Wang’s funeral on Monday.