{"id":17961,"date":"2026-03-26T19:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/is-taiwan-running-out-of-gas-the-truth-behind-the-viral-11-day-lng-scare\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T19:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:21:11","slug":"is-taiwan-running-out-of-gas-the-truth-behind-the-viral-11-day-lng-scare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/is-taiwan-running-out-of-gas-the-truth-behind-the-viral-11-day-lng-scare\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Taiwan running out of gas? The truth behind the viral 11-day LNG scare"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-bullets-style\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Disinformation targets Taiwan<\/strong> &mdash; China-based accounts are falsely claiming Taiwan will run out of LNG within 11 days, aiming to erode public confidence in the government.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Officials push back<\/strong> &mdash; Authorities confirm adequate reserves for March and April, with only one-third of supply coming from the Middle East and contingency plans in place.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Geopolitical agenda exposed<\/strong> &mdash; Analysts say the campaign is Beijing&rsquo;s &ldquo;cognitive warfare,&rdquo; exploiting Taiwan&rsquo;s limited LNG storage to push the case for reunification as an energy solution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>TAIPEI, March 26 &mdash; Taiwan has been targeted by a wave of online disinformation claiming the self-ruled island&rsquo;s gas supplies will soon be completely depleted due to disruptions from the Middle East war &ndash; a narrative officials say could cause panic and undermine confidence in the government.<\/p>\n<p>The false social media posts, which have amassed thousands of views on Chinese-language platforms, include a persistent claim that Taiwan will run out of liquefied natural gas (LNG) within 11 days and face electricity blackouts due to Iran&rsquo;s restrictions on tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p>AFP fact-checkers found around two dozen Douyin posts from China-based accounts pushing the narrative, many of them rehashing the same video script. Some also criticised Taiwan&rsquo;s decision to shut down its nuclear reactor last year, while others promoted Beijing&rsquo;s offer for &ldquo;peaceful reunification&rdquo; as a path to energy security.<\/p>\n<p>Taiwanese authorities have refuted the rumours, saying there are sufficient LNG reserves for March and April.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They claimed that we would run out of gas &ndash; that is simply impossible,&rdquo; Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin said in a Facebook video published March 9.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;LNG supplies from Qatar account for roughly one-third of our total supply. Therefore, roughly 60 to 70 per cent is basically not a problem.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div class=\"internal-linking-related-contents\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/12-weeks-jail-for-school-it-support-technician-who-took-upskirt-videos-of-teachers\/\" class=\"template-1\"><span class=\"cta\">News :<\/span><span class=\"postTitle\">&lt;div&gt;12 weeks' jail for school IT support technician who took upskirt videos of teachers&lt;\/div&gt;<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>Security officials told reporters last week they were monitoring fuel-related disinformation spread by Taiwanese &ldquo;collaborators&rdquo;, in addition to Chinese media.<\/p>\n<p>They found AI-generated content on YouTube and TikTok pushing &ldquo;a consistent narrative&rdquo; that Taiwan could be in a &ldquo;very dire situation&rdquo; and asking what would happen &ldquo;if Taiwan is encircled&rdquo;.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It works by creating scenarios to make people in Taiwan&hellip; feel concerned about the government, or keep imagining that if a blockade were to happen one day, we would lose confidence in energy,&rdquo; the security officials said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&lsquo;False impression&rsquo;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Taiwan is the latest target of disinformation about an impending energy crisis due to the US-Israeli strikes against Iran.<\/p>\n<p>Iran&rsquo;s Tasnim news agency published earlier this month an altered graphic falsely claiming Australia had just 18 days of petrol supplies left. AFP fact-checkers found the actual figure was twice that.<\/p>\n<div class=\"internal-linking-related-contents\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/migrant-acquitted-in-first-trial-over-us-border-military-zones\/\" class=\"template-1\"><span class=\"cta\">News :<\/span><span class=\"postTitle\">Migrant acquitted in first trial over US border military zones<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>Such claims are particularly sensitive in Taiwan, where China&rsquo;s growing military activity and the risk of a potential blockade around the island have ignited fears about energy security.<\/p>\n<p>LNG accounted for 47.8 per cent of Taiwan&rsquo;s power generation last year, according to the Energy Administration.<\/p>\n<p>Yeh Tsung-kuang, a professor in the Department of Engineering and System Science at National Tsing Hua University, said Taiwan&rsquo;s maximum LNG inventory is only 11 days but that does not mean the island will run out of fuel or face outages within that time period.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;One-third of our LNG comes from Qatar. We also have other sources such as Russia, Australia and the United States,&rdquo; he told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;These netizens are interpreting the situation as if LNG from the Middle East cannot get through, Taiwan will be left without a natural gas supply. They are attempting to create this false impression.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Ministry of Economic Affairs previously said on Facebook that while 22 LNG vessels would pass through the now-blocked Strait of Hormuz in March and April, supply would remain unaffected because the entire shortfall could be covered with &ldquo;emergency procurement or expedited delivery&rdquo;.<\/p>\n<p>If the blockade continues, it added, there are three contingency plans: utilising non-Middle Eastern gas sources, discussing mutual assistance with similar buyers such as Japan and South Korea and purchasing &ldquo;existing fuel&rdquo;.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&lsquo;Larger campaign&rsquo;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Beijing&rsquo;s Taiwan Affairs Office said last week that &ldquo;peaceful reunification could provide better protection&rdquo; for Taiwan&rsquo;s energy security with a &ldquo;strong motherland&rdquo; as its backing.<\/p>\n<p>But Taiwan&rsquo;s Deputy Economy Minister Ho Chin-tsang refuted that notion, saying in parliament that it was &ldquo;impossible&rdquo; and part of &ldquo;cognitive warfare&rdquo;.<\/p>\n<p>Joseph Webster, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council&rsquo;s Global Energy Center, said Beijing&rsquo;s offer could be &ldquo;a political drive&rdquo; to undermine Taiwan&rsquo;s faith in its own energy security.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So this disinformation is either explicitly or implicitly a part of that larger campaign,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Liang Chi-yuan, a professor and research fellow at National Central University&rsquo;s Center for Taiwan Economic Development, said such narratives might gain traction because Taiwan has relatively low LNG capacity compared to other Asian countries.<\/p>\n<p>Both experts acknowledged that Taiwan would face stronger competition and higher prices if the Middle East war drags on and long-term global LNG supplies are affected.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This is a significant vulnerability in terms of Taiwan&rsquo;s energy weakness,&rdquo; Liang said. &mdash; AFP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><sub>Is Taiwan running out of gas? The truth behind the viral 11-day LNG scare<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Disinformation targets Taiwan &mdash; China-based accounts are falsely claiming Taiwan will run out of LNG within 11 days, aiming to erode public confidence in the government. Officials push back &mdash; Authorities confirm adequate reserves for March and April, with only one-third of supply coming from the Middle East and contingency plans in place. Geopolitical agenda&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/is-taiwan-running-out-of-gas-the-truth-behind-the-viral-11-day-lng-scare\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Is Taiwan running out of gas? The truth behind the viral 11-day LNG scare&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}