Contested enclave metageographies: The offshore islands of Taiwan

Godfrey Baldacchino; Huei Min Tsai

doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2014.02.002

Contested enclave metageographies: The offshore islands of Taiwan

Godfrey Baldacchino, Huei Min Tsai^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Graduate Institute of Sustainability Management and Environmental Education

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

23 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The offshore islands of Taiwan (Republic of China) are dynamic examples of contested metageographies, island spaces caught in between competing and opposing interpretations of their identities, relativities, notions of sustainability and futures. Three cases - (1) population growth, land use conflict, a switch from a military to a tourism economy, and ever closer links between mainland China and Kinmen Island; (2) the rejection of a move to establish a casino economy on the Penghu archipelago; and (3) protests against the storage of spent nuclear waste on Orchid Island - are presented as illustrative of such changing topographies, themselves reflective of a transition to a more democratic and pluralist society in Taiwan. The paper hints at an evolving shift in both vertical (top/down) and horizontal (island-to-island) relations in the construction of development paths and futures for Taiwan's de facto archipelago. This re-territorialization offers a fresh, archipelagic repivoting of political geography for and beyond Taiwan.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	13-24
Number of pages	12
Journal	Political Geography
Volume	40
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2014.02.002
Publication status	Published - 2014 May

Keywords

Archipelago
China
Enclaves
Islands
Kinmen
Matsu
Metageographies
Offshore
Orchid Island
Penghu
Sustainable development
Taiwan

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geography, Planning and Development
History
Sociology and Political Science

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.polgeo.2014.02.002

Cite this

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title = "Contested enclave metageographies: The offshore islands of Taiwan",

abstract = "The offshore islands of Taiwan (Republic of China) are dynamic examples of contested metageographies, island spaces caught in between competing and opposing interpretations of their identities, relativities, notions of sustainability and futures. Three cases - (1) population growth, land use conflict, a switch from a military to a tourism economy, and ever closer links between mainland China and Kinmen Island; (2) the rejection of a move to establish a casino economy on the Penghu archipelago; and (3) protests against the storage of spent nuclear waste on Orchid Island - are presented as illustrative of such changing topographies, themselves reflective of a transition to a more democratic and pluralist society in Taiwan. The paper hints at an evolving shift in both vertical (top/down) and horizontal (island-to-island) relations in the construction of development paths and futures for Taiwan's de facto archipelago. This re-territorialization offers a fresh, archipelagic repivoting of political geography for and beyond Taiwan.",

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note = "Funding Information: Godfrey Baldacchino thanks the National Science Council of Taiwan (Project No. NSC 1002912I003012), the National Taiwan Normal University of Taipei , and the Penghu County Government for supporting his study visit to Taiwan and Penghu during May/June 2011, when an earlier version of this paper was drafted. Both authors also thank Wei-Chien Chang, graduate student at the Graduate Institute of Environmental Education, National Taiwan Normal University, for his assistance in drawing the map that accompanies this paper. The usual disclaimers apply.",

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Contested enclave metageographies: The offshore islands of Taiwan

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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