Taiwan’s energy dependencies laid bare

Renewed China tensions threaten island’s inflows of oil and gas from overseas

Taiwan’s critical dependence on seaborne imports of LNG and crude oil has been put under the spotlight by a spike in tensions between the self-governing democracy and neighbouring China, which is building its capability to impose a maritime blockade that could choke off the island’s inflows of energy from overseas. Wealthy, democratic and strategically located offshore the Chinese mainland, Taiwan is regarded by the Communist Party as the “the core of China’s core interests” and represents one of the biggest geopolitical flashpoints between China and the US. A series of recent developments have underlined the energy security challenge facing Taiwan, an island the size of Belgium but more pop