Beigan, Taiwan

Beigan, Taiwan: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Beigan is a township in Lienchiang County, Taiwan, situated on Beigan Island in the Matsu Islands in the East China Sea. The island group lies off the coast of Fujian Province, China, placing Beigan in a geographically distinct position relative to the main island of Taiwan. As a submarine cable landing point, Beigan serves the connectivity needs of this outlying island community through dedicated undersea infrastructure.

One submarine cable lands at Beigan: the Taiwan Penghu Kinmen Matsu No.3 (TPKM3). This cable connects Beigan to other points within Taiwan's domestic island network, making it part of an intra-national submarine cable corridor rather than an international or intercontinental route. The cable's name reflects the broader system it belongs to, linking Taiwan's principal outlying island groups — Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu — to the main island of Taiwan.

Cables Landing at Beigan, Taiwan

Taiwan Penghu Kinmen Matsu No.3 (TPKM3) is a 510-kilometre submarine cable that reached ready-for-service (RFS) status in 2013, with a draft designation. All endpoints on the cable are located within Taiwan, confirming its role as a domestic connectivity link. The cable serves the Matsu island chain, of which Beigan Island is the second largest landmass, connecting these geographically remote islands to the broader Taiwanese telecommunications network.

Regional Context

Among Taiwan's 21 submarine cable landing points, Beigan hosts a single cable, placing it in the lower tier of landing points by cable count alongside peers such as Dawu, Fangshan, and Huxi Township, each of which also host two cables. By contrast, larger hubs such as Toucheng and Tanshui host nine and eight cables respectively, reflecting their roles as primary international gateway landing points. Beigan's single-cable profile is consistent with its function as an outlying island terminus rather than a regional hub.

Network Role

Beigan operates as a single-cable terminus, anchoring the TPKM3 system's connectivity to the Matsu Islands. The cable's entirely domestic scope means Beigan's role is focused on bridging the geographic separation between Taiwan's offshore island communities and the main island's telecommunications infrastructure. This is a common function for landing points serving Taiwan's outlying island groups, where overland or line-of-sight connectivity is impractical.

Within Taiwan's overall submarine cable graph — which spans 21 landing points and 21 cables with an average length of over 7,000 kilometres — Beigan represents the short-haul, domestic segment of the network. Its presence in the graph underlines that submarine cable infrastructure in Taiwan is not limited to international routes but extends to the maintenance of connectivity for remote island communities such as those in the Matsu archipelago.