When the day comes that China invades Taiwan, the democratic island that has long been a rhetorical target for its Communist neighbor could send its residents to their closest 7-Eleven.
The convenience store chain has 13,000 locations in Taiwan, making it a potential gathering place for the government to send its citizens to pick up rations and medical supplies, according to The Guardian.
China insists Taiwan is rightfully a part of China. The self-governing island expects that a blockade will be the precursor to an invasion, along with attacks on the power grid and the internet. Travel by train or plane would be non-existent, meaning residents would need to be within walking distance of a pre-arranged community hub.
The concept of the stores being wartime shelters was created by a panel brought together by Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te to prepare for an invasion. Taiwan’s 7-Eleven stores played a pivotal role in dispensing medicine and supplies during COVID-19, making their use in war an idea to consider.
The panel’s name makes its purpose clear. The “whole of society defense resilience committee” is designed to mobilize civilians for their assigned roles when war comes.
“Faced with threats, whether they are natural disasters or authoritarian expansion ambitions, we believe that as long as the government and society as a whole are prepared, they can respond,” Lai told the panel.
“For a society constantly threatened by natural disasters and other risks, there’s a useful principle: Don’t panic, but don’t relax,” said Wen Lii, a representative of the president’s office.
“Private businesses can play a crucial role in issues such as distributing critical supplies,” Wen Lii continued. “Private businesses have also joined discussions on providing shelter space, medical supplies and stockpiling.”
A December tabletop exercise showed flaws in food distribution and communication.
“After the tabletop exercises, things changed very fast because every ministry realized how unprepared they are,” said committee member Poyu Tseng, a consultant at NGO Doublethink Lab.
“They’re just, one by one, realizing, ‘Oh, this is a very weak plan’ … it’s forced people to think more,” he said.
Taiwan’s biggest weakness is that it imports 97 percent of its energy, with strategic reserves holding about 90 days’ worth of coal and oil.
“Energy will be the most critical problem that people will talk about, because the shelters, the transportation, the hospitals, they all need the energy,” said Dr. Wen-ling Tu, a committee member focused on energy and critical infrastructure.
Taiwan is becoming more aggressive in pushing back against China, which has been conducting low-level harassment of the island. Last week, for the first time, a Chinese ship captain was charged with intentionally damaging undersea cables, according to Reuters.
American war planners are nervous.
“China’s unprecedented aggression and military modernization poses a serious threat to the homeland, our allies and our partners,” Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, according to Fox News.
“With military pressure against Taiwan increasing by 300 percent, China’s increasingly aggressive actions near Taiwan are not just exercises, they are rehearsals.” he said.
“While PLA attempts to intimidate the people of Taiwan and demonstrate coercive capabilities, these actions are backfiring, drawing increased global attention and accelerating Taiwan’s own defense preparations,” Paparo said, referring to the People’s Liberation Army.
Late last month, China launched major military drills on all sides of Taiwan as a “severe warning and forceful containment against Taiwan independence,” said Shi Yi, a representative for the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command, according to CBS.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
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