TAIPEI TIMES》 China faces heavy costs in invasion: think tank

A Washington think tank warned that China would face significant economic costs if it blockaded or invaded Taiwan, calling such a scenario the gravest threat to regional trade. In a report published the previous week by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, it said nearly $1.3 trillion of Chinese trade transited the Taiwan Strait in 2024, about 33% more than through the Malacca Strait. The report described the strait as both Taiwan’s economic lifeline and a critical artery for China’s own imports, including oil, coal, natural gas, ores, and metals. It estimated that in 2024 the Taiwan Strait carried 33% of China’s total imports and 58% of its maritime imports, while also supporting domestic shipping between southern hubs like Shenzhen and Guangzhou and northern cities. If traffic shifted from sea to land routes, moving goods from Guangzhou to Tianjin could cost about three times more and cause bottlenecks. It also cited that Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines shipped $755 billion through the strait in 2024.