Jinhu Township, Taiwan

Jinhu Township, Taiwan: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Jinhu Township is an urban township of Kinmen County, located in the Taiwan Strait and administered as part of Fujian Province, Republic of China (Taiwan). Situated on an island close to the coast of mainland China, Jinhu Township is the largest township in Kinmen County and serves as the landing point for one submarine cable. Its position in the Taiwan Strait places it geographically apart from the main island of Taiwan, making submarine cable connectivity particularly significant for the outlying islands of Kinmen.

The single cable landing here is the Taiwan Penghu Kinmen Matsu No.2 (TPKM2), a domestic cable system that connects various island groups administered by Taiwan. Rather than providing intercontinental reach, TPKM2 fulfills an inter-island role, linking Kinmen to other territories within Taiwan's jurisdiction. This makes Jinhu Township's cable infrastructure oriented entirely toward domestic inter-island connectivity within the Taiwan Strait region.

Cables Landing at Jinhu Township

Taiwan Penghu Kinmen Matsu No.2 (TPKM2) is a 467-kilometre submarine cable system with a Ready for Service (RFS) year of 2000, listed with draft status. As its name indicates, the cable serves the outlying island groups of Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu, all of which are territories administered by Taiwan. The cable's other endpoints are also located within Taiwan, confirming its role as a domestic inter-island system rather than an international link. At 467 km, it is considerably shorter than the average submarine cable landing in Taiwan, which stands at approximately 7,211 km, reflecting its regional rather than transoceanic scope.

Regional Context

Among Taiwan's 21 submarine cable landing points, Jinhu Township hosts a single cable, placing it in a group of smaller landing points by cable count. Major hubs such as Toucheng (9 cables) and Tanshui (8 cables) serve as the primary international gateways on the main island, while Jinhu Township's role is more narrowly defined. It shares its single-cable status with several other landing points across Taiwan, though its specific geographic position on Kinmen distinguishes it as serving the island's inter-island domestic connectivity needs.

Network Role

Jinhu Township functions as a single-cable terminus rather than a multi-cable hub, with its sole connection being the domestic TPKM2 system. The cable it hosts does not extend beyond Taiwan's administered territories, meaning Jinhu Township's role in the broader submarine cable graph is one of intra-national inter-island connectivity, providing a physical link between Kinmen and other outlying island groups such as Penghu and Matsu. This distinguishes it from landing points on the main island of Taiwan that participate in long-distance international cable systems.

Within the regional submarine cable graph, Jinhu Township represents the point at which Kinmen County connects via submarine infrastructure to the broader network of Taiwan-administered territories. As the only cable landing in Kinmen associated with TPKM2, it ensures that one of Taiwan's most geographically distinct island groups maintains a dedicated undersea link to the rest of the country's domestic cable network.