The sirens sound throughout the city, the streets empty and everyone takes shelter… In Taipei, capital of Taiwan, it is a preparatory exercise for air raids to which all the inhabitants submit. Because the threat hovers, the specter of a war in which they have long refused to believe. For four days, the island is in a state of general mobilization.
It’s because China is increasing its demonstrations of force off Taiwan. Faced with this, the island of 23 million inhabitants organizes its defense to maintain its independence and prepares for a possible Chinese invasion.
If war broke out, would there be a risk of a shortage of semiconductors?
Taiwan has a weak point: on the international scene, it is very isolated. Although it has all the attributes of a sovereign state (elected president, parliament, army, etc.), it is not recognized as such, only 14 countries maintain official diplomatic relations with it and it has no headquarters. at the UN. Nevertheless, many countries have unofficial relations with it.
It is that Taiwan has a strategic interest: it concentrates an important part of the world production of microprocessors. Taiwanese chips are sold all over the world to equip cars, trains, planes, telephones, refrigerators… If war broke out, would there be a risk of shortages?
A report by Olivier Sibille, Guillaume Marque, Roméo Christien broadcast in “Special Envoy” on September 1, 2022.
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