From Beijing to Taipei, ABC correspondent Bill Birtles reflects on eight years reporting on China

Birtles and camera operator West Matteeussen covering army exercises in Taiwan. (Supplied: Bill Birtles)

Upon landing in Beijing in 2015 to take up the China correspondent role for the ABC, I could have never imagined how the posting would ultimately end — 1,700 kilometres away in Taipei, looking in from outside.

When I arrived in Beijing, Taiwan was a backburner story in Asia; now it's a flashpoint that some fear could see the US and China fight a war.