Taiwan Aims To Boost Stockpiles of Food in Preparation for Chinese Blockade

Taiwan's agriculture ministry says it has more than seven months' worth of rice stockpiled in case of a blockade from China.

Transcript

00:00Taiwan's government is reportedly working out how it would keep its people fed in the

00:04case of a Chinese blockade.

00:07Jaime O'Connor is live for us with the latest.

00:09Jaime, what are we hearing?

00:11Well, Taiwan's legislature released some pretty rare details of how it's preparing in the

00:18case of an emergency like a blockade or a war.

00:21This report shows that Taiwan has been taking monthly inventories of things like food, making

00:26sure they're properly stored and spread out across Taiwan in the case that maybe China's

00:31military encircles a country, as Beijing has threatened to invade Taiwan to bring it under

00:36its control.

00:37Now, this report, taking rice, for example, under law, Taiwan needs to have at least three

00:41months' worth of rice stockpiled in the case of a blockade.

00:45But this report shows that the agriculture ministry actually has seven months' worth

00:48of rice stockpiled, and it's investing, actually, to make sure that as these supply stations

00:53spread across Taiwan, to make sure they can distribute that food efficiently in the case

00:58of that crisis.

00:59The report also shows that Taiwan has been investing in the infrastructure to support

01:03fishing in ponds and rivers inside Taiwan.

01:07And the reason why that's important is because, well, Taiwan is an island and surrounded by

01:10the ocean, so that if China was to blockade Taiwan, Chinese Coast Guard ships and Navy

01:15ships would be swarming the country around and making sure they can enforce that blockade.

01:20Some U.S. think tanks have done some analysis and studies that Taiwan would be able to hold

01:24out in the event of a blockade for about six months before asking other countries, like

01:28the U.S. potentially, for assistance.

01:31Jaime, is there any reason why Taiwan is talking about this now?

01:37Well, first things first, there's no sign of any imminent blockade or any imminent attack.

01:44The reason why people are talking about this is because earlier this month, China conducted

01:49large-scale military exercises that pretty much simulated a blockade on Taiwan.

01:54Those came after Taiwan President Lai Ching-de's National Day speech on October 10th.

02:00This morning, Taiwan's defense minister, William Tsang-ku, said that a blockade would be an

02:05act of war.

02:06And the defense ministry is actually concerned that one of these large-scale exercises could

02:11turn into a blockade before Taiwan, and potentially even the United States, has time to react.

02:16So all this talk about Russian food is just a way for Taiwan to kind of understand how

02:20to best prepare for a blockade, both from a military and also from a civilian standpoint.