The Energy Crisis from the Iran War Shows How Vulnerable Taiwan is to a Naval Blockade

Taiwan’s current predicament highlights a broader issue of strategic preparedness in an increasingly uncertain global environment. Beyond immediate disruptions, the crisis underscores how energy security has become central to national resilience and geopolitical positioning. How Taiwan navigates this moment will shape not only its internal stability but also its credibility in a rapidly shifting international landscape.

The 2026 Iran war is not only embroiling the Middle East in chaos but also the entire world. Miscalculating the regime’s response to existential pressure, the Strait of Hormuz has primarily been closed off by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (Council on Foreign Relations, 2026).

The Indo-Pacific has been tremendously affected by the war, with Taiwan amongst the most precarious due to the spillover (Financial Times, 2026). As a country that heavily relies on energy imports, Taipei is vulnerable to potential scenarios of coercion or blockades by Beijing, which could capitalize on American miscalculations (Global Taiwan Institute, 2026).
Amid the critical energy situation, Taiwan must reassess sustainable energy, further bolster international ties, and prepare to protect key facilities from potential sabotage.

The 2026 Global Energy Crisis and Spillover to Taiwan

The Asia-Pacific is a major importer of Middle Eastern energy resources that pass through the Strait of Hormuz, with Taiwan being a major customer. Akin to China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the Philippines, Taiwan also feels the domino effect of the energy crisis (Reuters, 2026).

Taiwan receives 70% of crude oil and 38% of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from countries that export energy via the Strait of Hormuz. Overall, according to the Atlantic Council, oil and LNG imports account for 95% of Taiwan’s energy sector (Atlantic Council, 2026).

Taipei’s industrial sector particularly relies on sulfur and helium to help maintain its powerful semiconductor industry, led by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Without these resources, global exports of advanced chips could be significantly disrupted, which would also affect the United States, which relies on TSMC (Asia Global Institute, 2026).

The war is forcing Taipei to diversify its energy imports, as Taiwan only has about 11 days of natural gas reserves (Taipei Times, 2026). The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry confirmed increased purchases of LNG from the United States to backfill ongoing shortfalls due to disruptions stemming from infrastructure attacks and the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz (Nikkei Asia, 2026).

How Taipei Handicapped its Own Energy

Over the past decade, Taiwanese government policies have led to a reliance on imported energy, which has resulted in the country’s precarious situation today. Akin to Germany, Taiwan’s conundrum regarding sustainable energy stemmed from the 2011 Fukushima incident (American Nuclear Society, 2026).

During the Fukushima nuclear incident, the major 2011 earthquake and tsunami led to radioactive leaks and environmental contamination, as the power plant was not fully prepared for such a scenario (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2026). Against the backdrop of the incident, various countries, such as the German and Taiwanese governments, looked to phase out their power plants.

The Fukushima disaster sparked a major debate in Taiwan, which also sits along active fault lines like Japan (Heinrich Böll Foundation, 2023). Under the oversight of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Taiwan gradually began phasing out nuclear power in 2016, with the last power plant being shut down in late 2025 (Taiwan Climate Action Network, 2025).

How Beijing Could Take Advantage of Taipei in a Naval Blockade?

The closure of nuclear power plants in the country has now become a blind spot and an ‘Achilles heel’ (American Foreign Policy Council, 2026). Taipei cannot afford to be overly reliant on fossil fuels, especially if China were to enact measures to degrade the island’s energy resources in a potential blockade or direct assault.

In a February 2026 article by the Global Taiwan Institute, Ben Levine, a programs coordinator, emphasized that Taiwan’s population lives densely in the north (Global Taiwan Institute, 2026). In contrast, most of the country’s domestic power generation is in the south. If the Chinese military (PLA) were to strangle Taiwan, it would attempt to destroy the generators in the south to starve and slowly capitulate the north (Wall Street Journal, 2026).

Akin to Ukraine’s Operation Spider’s Web, China could also use its spy network to degrade Taipei’s energy resources in a Taiwan contingency, for which the Taiwanese government will need to prepare (National Security Journal, 2026). In 2017, the Taiwanese government estimated over 5,000 spies within its borders, which represents a major counterintelligence threat.

Saboteurs employed by Beijing could incapacitate power grids, ammunition depots, water sources, and other critical sectors directly or through the use of drones, and due to Taiwan not having physical borders, every resource will matter in a blockade.

Simultaneously, China’s maritime militia, which operates under the authority of the Chinese navy (PLAN), could blockade energy imports into Taiwan (Army University Press, 2021). Utilizing thousands of civilian fishing vessels, the PLAN maritime militia, also known as the ‘little blue men’, has previously conducted exercises equivalent to forming blockades in the East China Sea as a form of intimidation toward Japan’s more open stance on intervention for Taiwan (Nikkei Asia, 2026).

The maritime militia has used the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs) to its advantage, as naval ships are prohibited from attacking civilian vessels. Because of this, Taiwan and allied countries will have to coordinate a methodical escalation ladder if a PLAN blockade involving the ‘little blue men’ were to take place.

The Urgent Need to Diversify Energy Resources

Against the backdrop of the energy crisis and lessons drawn from it, Taiwan is now in the process of reopening the Maashan and Kuosheng nuclear power plants. Both are expected to be operational by late 2028 and mid-2029, respectively (World Nuclear News, 2025).

Upgrading LNG purchases from the United States could also be a beneficial backup plan with strategic benefits. With the U.S. as the primary military backer of Taiwan and already sharing valuable manufacturing capacity through TSMC, enhanced energy imports from America will further strengthen the national security rationale for Washington to bolster Taipei (National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2026).

Today, the global energy crisis is not only a wake-up call for Taiwan but also an existential issue due to the ill-informed policies of the Taiwanese government, which have handicapped its own sustainable energy development. Now, as an island that heavily relies on energy imports, Taiwan is vulnerable to a blockade by China and must immediately begin the process of renewing nuclear energy, hardening shelters and defences around key intrastate areas, and preparing asymmetrical contingencies in the event of coercion or wartime scenarios.

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