Kinmen County began importing water from China’s Fujian Province on Sunday in a bid to stabilize the islands’ fragile water supply. The controversial project represents a microcosm of Beijing’s wider “united front” strategy. Kinmen’s deal with Fujian Water Supply Co is at best unwise and at worst exceedingly reckless.
Under the agreement, inked on July 20, 2015, during former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) second term, the county is to import an average of 34,000 tonnes of water a day through a 16.7km undersea pipe, which could increase to 55,000 tonnes per day during the dry season.
