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