Voters in Taiwan are headed to the polls on Saturday to decide whether Taipei should reignite its nuclear power capabilities as the island faces immense energy vulnerabilities amid growing concern over threats posed by China. 

In May, Taiwan shut the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant — its last remaining nuclear plant — after the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) pledged in 2016 to phase out nuclear power by 2025 over concerns relating to nuclear fallout following the 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan.

Security experts have since been sounding the alarm that the move further exposes Taiwan’s vulnerabilities to China as the island is highly dependent on energy imports, relying heavily on nations like the U.S., Australia, Saudi Arabia and Qatar for both Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and crude oil imports. 

“Taiwan’s energy dependence is an Achilles heel,” Craig Singleton, China Program senior director and senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), said during a media call following a delegation’s visit to the island earlier this month. 

People’s Liberation Army (PLA) storm ashore from landing crafts in an excercise on the mainland coast close to Taiwan, Sept. 10, 1999.  (STR/Xinhua/AFP via Getty Images)

“Nuclear power does, in my view, change that calculus, providing a lot of continuity under coercion, and I think it really complicates Beijing’s playbook,” Singleton argued.  

Ultimately, he said that Taiwan needs to better diversify its energy needs in order to better protect against a potential Chinese blockade.

“The U.S. needs to help Taiwan diversify fast, cut exposure to vulnerable suppliers like Qatar, and probably prepare for a contest of endurance because I think that’s exactly how China is thinking about this issue,” he added, noting Qatar’s relationship with China and its large number of LNG exports to Bejing. 

The PLA Navy and the PLA Army conduct a cross-day and all-factor live-fire red-blue confrontation drill in Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, China, Aug 24, 2022.  (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Singleton pointed out that Ukraine has proven a helpful case study, not just when it comes to the vulnerabilities of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, but how an invading nation can target the vulnerabilities in every aspect of the energy sector. 

“Ukraine shows that energy is one of the fastest ways to undermine a country’s will. And obviously Russia targeted power to free cities and to fracture cohesion and to force concessions,” Singleton explained. “I think Beijing is absolutely studying that playbook.”