China’s energy siege of Taiwan could cripple US supply chains, report warns
Instead of waging a bloody battle that could ignite a clash between nuclear-armed states, China may be betting it can conquer Taiwan without firing a shot — by choking off...
By Fox News · Fox News
Instead of waging a bloody battle that could ignite a clash between nuclear-armed states, China may be betting it can conquer Taiwan without firing a shot — by choking off the island’s fuel and electricity until its government capitulates. China’s campaign wouldn’t start with missiles but with paperwork and patrol boats — "routine" inspections, new customs rules and cyber intrusions designed to quietly strangle Taiwan’s imports while giving Beijing plausible deniability, according to a new report by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). The report warns that a successful Chinese squeeze on Taiwan’s fuel would ripple far beyond Asia. With the island producing most of the world’s advanced semiconductors, any prolonged power outage could halt global electronics and defense manufacturing — hitting U.S. supply chains and markets almost immediately. "Beijing’s goal isn’t to invade today, but to make Taiwan believe resistance is futile tomorrow. Its gray-zone campaign is a strategy of slow-motion strangulation — one that risks a sudden shock as Chinese ships and aircraft surge around the island," report author Craig Singleton said. TAIWAN'S ENERGY DEPENDENCE IS 'ACHILLES HEEL' AMID IMMENSE THREAT BY CHINA The findings stem from a tabletop exercise conducted this summer by FDD and Taiwan’s Centre for Innovative Democracy and Sustainability at National Chengchi University. The simulation, called "Energy Siege," tested how the Chinese Communist Party might escalate from bureaucratic interference to a full-blown energy quarantine. Teams representing China, Taiwan, the United States, Japan and other allies wargamed a monthslong campaign in which Beijing throttled Taiwan’s fuel imports through "gray-zone" tactics — administrative slowdowns, cyberattacks and disinformation — all while maintaining plausible deniability. The exercise found that a prolonged squeeze on Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) could cripple its electrical grid within weeks and trigger a global…