China’s missile launches into Taiwan’s coastal waters this week have underlined the risks to global supply chains from any sustained escalation of tensions between the feuding countries.
The military exercises in response to a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan resembled a rehearsal for a blockade of the export-dependent island, with some cargo ships forced to adjust course and airlines cancelling flights.
Three of the six areas blocked off for the exercises are in or near the Taiwan Strait — the body of water between the island and Chinese mainland that is only 130km wide at its narrowest point. The Strait is the primary shipping route between China and Japan, the world’s second- and third-biggest economies, respectively, and Europe. It also serves as a trading route for technology powerhouse South Korea, carrying manufactured goods from the factories of Asia to many of the world’s consumers.