Not far from the rusted-out tanks and anti-landing spikes that litter the beaches of Kinmen County, 92-year-old veteran Yang Yin-shih reads his newspaper in the shadow of the enemy that regularly adorns its pages. Several kilometers from Yang’s home on the tiny Kinmen Islands is China, where he can see for himself the military might that threatens his homeland. Beijing last week staged unprecedented war games around the self-ruled democracy in a hailstorm of rage after US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan’s capital. As Chinese vessels dotted the Taiwan Strait and...