Sanitized Borders? : Borderland Governance and Development at a Time of Crisis

Borderlands are both contact and contested zones. Lying at the edge of the nation, they can represent both the delimitation of state power as well as a defiance of the state. Whether borderland is a strip of prosperous zone, or a piece of no-man’s land often depends on borderland governance – which is more than the policies and ruling of one national government. Borderland governance is an outcome of the interactions of states and sets of national policies on both sides, as well as contacts and interactions of multiple actors of different nationalities, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Policies on the state level and interactions on the ground level will lead to various opportunities (for prosperity) and constraints (for development). Ever since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, a new element has been added to borderland governance – sanitization of the border. COVID-19 has forced countries around the world to close borders and impeded all crossing-border activities for the sake of health security. A standstill at borders has resulted in various separation and suspension - jobs were suspended, flows came to a halt and families were separated. Prosperous border zones were converted into no man’s land. By using cases from East and Southeast borderlands (such as the Hong Kong-China, Singapore-Malaysia and Vietnam-China borderlands), this paper provides updates of Asian borderlands under the impacts of COVID stalemates. It will provide a preliminary analysis of borderland governance with the concept of ‘sanitized borders’ at a time of crisis.