Taiwan, explained.
The water pipeline connecting Fujian to Kinmen went into operation in 2018, delivering water from Fujian's Jinjiang River to alleviate water shortages (Lai Jincai/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Kinmen’s water now comes mostly from Fujian – a dependence neither Taiwan or China calls political, but neither can easily undo.
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A pipe under the Taiwan Strait outlasts the politics above itA pipe under the Taiwan Strait outlasts the politics above it
More than 50 million tonnes (Opens in new window) of water have flowed from Fujian to Taiwan-controlled Kinmen since a cross-Strait water pipeline began operating in 2018. Fujian now supplies around 22,000 tonnes a day (Opens in new window), accounting for 87% (Opens in new window) of Kinmen’s daily tap-water supply.
The pipeline emerged from a genuine local problem before it acquired a broader geopolitical meaning. After Kinmen’s military administration was lifted in 1992 (Opens in new window), tourism and economic activity expanded, putting new pressure on a water system built during decades of military rule. Its reservoirs deteriorated, groundwater levels fell, and parts of it became saline. By the early 2000s (Opens in new window), Kinmen’s existing infrastructure was struggling to meet demand, strengthening the case for a new source of freshwater.
The project took more than two decades to materialise. The idea of supplying Kinmen with water from Fujian was first proposed in 1995 (Opens in new window), but negotiations over the project continued for years. The two sides signed a water purchase contract in July 2015, (Opens in new window) and the undersea pipeline was completed in 2018 (Opens in new window), connecting Kinmen to Fujian’s water system. The 16-kilometre subsea section is part of a 28-kilometre route (Opens in new window) carrying water from Fujian’s Longhu Reservoir to Kinmen.
The same connection that makes everyday life easier can also create a new point of vulnerability.
At first, the pipeline looked like a practical approach to a local water problem. Its significance has grown since. In July 2026, Chinese officials explicitly described it as a “model of cross-Strait cooperation (Opens in new window)” and a “landmark livelihood project (Opens in new window)” for cross-Strait integration. The water pipeline has become part of Beijing’s argument that practical cooperation can improve livelihoods and deepen cross-Strait ties.
Taipei, on the other side, does not describe the pipeline as a sign of growing dependence to the mainland. Taiwan has continued to develop Kinmen’s own water infrastructure (Opens in new window), including desalination, reservoirs, groundwater management and connections between the island’s water systems. In March 2025 (Opens in new window), Taiwan’s Water Resources Agency said Kinmen had sufficient water from a diversified supply and rejected a proposal for a second pipeline from Fujian. The agency described the existing mainland supply as only one part of Kinmen’s diversified water sources, rather than a reason to expand dependence and build a second pipeline.
The pipeline has also changed Kinmen’s water system itself. Research on the island describes the project as a form of “debordering (Opens in new window)” infrastructure. Unlike the water infrastructure built during the Cold War (Opens in new window), which reinforced Kinmen’s separation from the mainland, the pipeline creates a physical connection across the former frontline. This water now forms a substantial part (Opens in new window) of Kinmen’s public supply, while local reservoirs and other sources remain in place as part of the wider system.
But interdependence cuts both ways. The pipeline has made Kinmen’s water supply more reliable, but it has also created a connection that depends on stable relations across the Strait. The island retains reservoirs, desalination and groundwater as alternatives, but the mainland supply has become too important to ignore. This is the paradox of infrastructure in a divided political space. The same connection that makes everyday life easier can also create a new point of vulnerability. Potential cross-Strait conflict poses a risk (Opens in new window) to this transborder water supply.
A freshwater storage pool in front of the Guanao community in Kinmen, with China visible in the distance (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images)
The significance of the pipeline lies in the gap between political separation and material integration. Infrastructure does not require bilateral agreement to create interdependence. The pipeline is still a technical and commercial arrangement. But it has also created a physical connection that remains even when political relations worsen. Kinmen does not have to become politically integrated with the mainland for its water system to become partly integrated with Fujian’s.
Political borders do not disappear when infrastructure crosses them. But infrastructure can make those borders less consequential in everyday life. For the people of Kinmen, the pipeline is not an abstract experiment in cross-Strait integration. It is water. It comes through pipes, fills reservoirs, reaches homes and businesses. The political relationship between Taiwan and China remains unresolved. Yet every day, water from Fujian becomes part of life on an island that is politically separate from the mainland.
The pipeline does not solve the political divide, but it makes that divide simply less visible when someone turns on a tap.
About the author
Leonie Spangenberg
Leonie Spangenberg is an economic sinologist. She holds a degree in Asian Studies and Management, with a focus on China, and has studied at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Hanyang University in Seoul.
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