Images of a quiet coastal village in Pingtan, the closest place in China's mainland to Taiwan as Beijing expands military drills around the self-ruled island. "Of course, we hope for Taiwan to reunify with the mainland... We have this aspiration, but as for Taiwan's perspective, we don't really know," retiree Nian Mei Sheng tells AFP, adding that he saw Chinese military planes overhead several times since Taiwan President Lai Ching-te took office. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES