On Taiwan’s islands close to China’s mainland threats are in sharp focus ahead of election

There is a long queue of people waiting to board the ferry from the coastal city of Xiamen in southeast China. There are families with children, a number of older people and many others lugging huge suitcases laden with cheap goods. They board quickly and take seats inside the small boat, there’s a sense many of them take this trip regularly. Their journey is a short one, fewer than 10 miles lasting only about half an hour, but they are passing between two places with an increasingly tense and fractious relationship: China and Taiwan. Indeed, this ferry links Chinese Xiamen…