China’s proposition of “reunification” to stabilize Taiwan’s energy supplies would not happen, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Chin-tsang (何晉滄) said today, calling it cognitive warfare.
Ho was responding to comments by China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhu (陳斌華), who told reporters in Beijing that "peaceful reunification" would bring better protection of Taiwan's energy and resource security with a "strong motherland" as its backing.
"We are willing to provide Taiwan compatriots with stable and reliable energy and resource security, so that they may live better lives," he said, responding to a question about Taiwan's energy supplies during the war in the Middle East.
Photo: screen grab from CPC Corp, Taiwan’s Web site
It would be impossible for the energy supply system across the Strait to be interconnected, Ho said.
State-run oil supplier CPC Corp, Taiwan is managing natural gas and other energy sources to ensure supply through the end of next month and is managing May supplies as well, he said.
The government has also implemented the dual-price mitigation mechanism and a special stabilization mechanism to control oil prices and ensure that the consumer price index does not rise above 2 percent, Ho said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said that it has adequate safety reserves and contingency measures to ensure stable energy supplies, such as alternative supplies from the US.
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday also said that energy supplies for this month and next month are assured, and from June more US gas is to be imported.
"Taiwan has adopted a diversified and multi-source strategic approach to energy imports," Lai said in a statement released by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
As the war in the Middle East continues toward a third week, energy supply has become a pressing issue around the world, particularly following the severing of shipping lanes through the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Last year, natural gas accounted for almost half of Taiwan’s energy generation, with approximately one-third sourced from Qatar and transported via the Strait of Hormuz.
Taiwan does not source any energy from China.
Additional reporting by CNA and Reuters
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