Distance matters : near islands, remote islands, and the effect of distance on island development

Abstract

With a population of just 9 million, Hainan is China's smallest province. It is also China's southernmost province. This presents the island with a unique opportunity to offer specialized national services that speak to its natural competitive assets: its islandness, its tourism potential, its proximity to the equator-significant for rocket launch facilities-and its location as the natural gateway to the South China Sea. At the same time, and in spite of its 30-km strait from mainland China, and the difficulties of constructing a fixed link over the typhoonprone Hainan Strait, Hainan has the opportunity to operate as a 'near' island, pursuing niche development goals supported by Beijing; while enhancing its jurisdictional status and leveraging this in order to consolidate its status as a province supporting strong economic growth. This exploratory chapter offers a first insight into how distance from the mainland (and from central government) impacts on an island's ability to determine its own destiny. It does so by adopting a global perspective and examining the manner in which near islands and remote islands have (a) nurtured different levels ofjurisdictional status and autonomy; and (b) used that jurisdictional resource, where available, to chart their own development path, in ways that may be similar, complementary, different, and outright in opposition to mainland ambitions and plans. In these ongoing relationships, remote islands have a much stronger likelihood of departing from mainland agendas than near islands.