China might quarantine Taiwan, report saysBy Wu Meng-feng and William Hetherington / Staff writersChina might seek to isolate Taiwan and weaken its economy through a “quarantine,” which would make it difficult for the US to respond and force Taipei to negotiate on unification, CNN reported on Saturday. However, China might choose to initiate a quarantine, rather than a military invasion of Taiwan, to avoid US involvement, it said. Furthermore, the China Coast Guard has 150 ocean-going vessels and 400 smaller ones, while the Coast Guard Administration has only 10 ocean-going ships and about 160 smaller ones, it said. The actions taken by Beijing to isolate Taiwan during a quarantine might be relatively limited, but they would still have the effect of strangling Taiwan economically, they said. “Limited search and/or seizure actions have an effect on flights to Taiwan as a quarantine can easily be extended to the air,” CNN said.
