The Geopolitics of Water Infrastructure on the Kinmen Islands

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5149205
AutoresM H Chen (0009-0009-4785-4031, Pennsylvania State University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2024
Volumen31
Número3
Páginas1-29
Fecha de publicación2024-10-25
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaGeopolitics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1465-0045 • E-ISSN: 1557-3028
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14650045.2024.2419469
OpenAlexW4403768614
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas43

This paper examines the bordering and debordering deployment of water infrastructures on the Islands of Kinmen. Located less than 5 km off the coast of China, yet 200 km from their governing authority, Taiwan, Kinmen holds a critical position in cross-strait relations, and its water infrastructures have carried opposite political intentions. The 2018 Fujian-Kinmen water transfer pipeline serves as a debordering tool as it showcases that the People’s Republic of China could offer benefits to the people on the islands. In contrast, Kinmen’s existing water infrastructure, established during the Cold War, served as part of the bordering campaign to counter Communist China, as it represented progress and modern living under the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). However, rather than assuming the successful deployment of infrastructure or a passive role of the islands, this paper highlights that the planning and construction of Kinmen’s water infrastructures were influenced by conditions of militarisation, shifting cross-strait relations, the islands’ socio-material constraints and their relationships with Taiwan and China. The case of Kinmen illustrates the capacity of water infrastructure to serve bordering and debordering purposes, as well as how other factors disrupt or facilitate these processes

Economic geography · Geography · Geopolitics · Political science · Politics · Water infrastructure · Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration · Environmental Science · International Maritime Law Issues · Law · Water Governance and Infrastructure