Taiwan would have enough oil reserves to last 30 days should China decide to blockade the country, a national defense expert said yesterday.
"Taiwan should increase its oil stockpile to meet urgent and sudden demands. The nation will be cast into complete chaos if something goes wrong with supplies of crude oil," said Chung Chien (
Chung made the remark during a two-day symposium, entitled the "Trends of Social Development and Strategy Analysis for the Year 2010."
The event, organized by the Cabinet's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, concluded at the International Convention Center in Taipei yesterday.
Along with eight other scholars, Chung yesterday made public a 20-page report on national security strategy for 2010.
While Chung estimated Tai-wan's oil reserves would last 30 days, he said US intelligence sources estimate the country has enough crude oil to meet demand for about nine days if China mounted a blockade of air and sea routes.
Chung, however, refused to reveal the source of the US data.
Chinese Petroleum Corp (
The inventory includes supplies that are in transit.
Two-thirds of Taiwan's crude oil is imported from the Middle East, while the remaining one-third comes from elsewhere, mainly Southeast Asia.
According to Chung, the world's economically recoverable oil reserves are estimated at nearly 1 trillion barrels. It is projected that this will last for about 40 years if the world's consumption of crude oil stays at the 67 million barrels a day it is now.
Taiwan consumes an average of 640,000 barrels of crude oil a day, or about 1 percent of the world's total.
Because all of Taiwan's crude oil is imported, Chung called on the government to raise inventories as a precautionary measure.
"Although Taiwan produces 300 barrels of crude oil a day, it's purely for military purposes," Chung said. "The South China Sea is an important transportation route because 98 percent of Taiwan's crude oil travels through there."
Chung also called on the government to store all oil supplies underground or in caves instead of keeping them in surface facilities for security reasons.
"As oil tanks and refineries are easy targets for air strikes, it's important to move them underground," Chung said.
Lin Cheng-yi (
"The government can no longer formulate national security strategies solely from a military perspective," Lin said.
"A sound national security strategy should take into account political, economic, military, psychological, technological and diplomatic means to reach the ultimate goal of national security and safeguard national interest and national dignity," he said.
In the 20-page report on national security strategy for 2010, the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission predicted that China might have set a timetable for unification by that year, and perhaps have begun employing military intimidation to realize that goal.
It suggested a number of ways Taiwan could shore up its security, such as boosting ties with neighbors and increasing spending on intelligence gathering.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2