Supplies to buy if China takes Taiwan

[Marjie]

I would suggest duct tape as it has so many uses

 

[Bacon112179!!]

Don't wait until then. I say this as someone who lived in a hurricane area for years. As soon as the warning goes out, the stores become a mad house. You walk in there with a list and come out with only half.

Just look at the toilet paper debacle. People went F'in crazy.

 

[user 7691]

Don't wait until then. I say this as someone who lived in a hurricane area for years. As soon as the warning goes out, the stores become a mad house. You walk in there with a list and come out with only half.

People around where I live are a bit different; no prepper mindset, always thinking everything will be fine, not seeing the signs, obedient to .gov and pretty oblivious to world affairs, ie, it's so far away it won't affect me... I do have extra supplies of most things but if it was going to be years until they were available again then I'd want more. Though what you say is true for me to an extent, as in I can always find more stuff that I hadn't thought of that may disappear quickly. We did have crazy runs on toilet paper during the scamdemic...

 

[user 7691]

I would suggest duct tape as it has so many uses

Agreed, I'll get more, don't actually have much. Cheers

 

[user 7691]

It

Just look at the toilet paper debacle. People went F'in crazy.

It was amusing how that was their major concern, like what one uses must be soft and have a pretty print on it! So many alternatives to get the job done. I don't think most people would really think for a while of what is actually going to be most important in this kind of situation, like light bulbs and so on. They will likely wait to see what is being depleted from the shelves and then go nuts trying to get that thing, whatever it is, even if they don't need or use it, just because other people are buying it.

 

[andrewOz]

Living in Australia, I am wondering about what supplies I should buy if China is to move on Taiwan, cutting off supplies to Australia as the shipping channels are closed.
I'm thinking things like light bulbs, batteries, bird netting, zip ties, shoes, medicines and so on. I would like to have a comprehensive list so I can go to the hardware store as soon as it happens and get the extra stuff, just don't want to miss anything. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

A bigger issue is fuels.
Australia no longer has the ability to refine an adequate quantity of fuels (petrol, diesel) from crude oil, even if it had access to adequate crude oil supplies. We depend upon shipments (principally) from the Singapore and Malaysia areas.
Being short of fuels will be far more devastating to Australia than many other supply shortages: without diesel fuel, most of our transport (e.g. trains, trucks, vessels) cease to operate, agriculture grinds to a halt.
If someone wanted to cut off Australia's fuel supplies, it would be very easy to block the channels through Indonesia and other islands.

 

[andrewOz]

People around where I live are a bit different; no prepper mindset, always thinking everything will be fine, not seeing the signs, obedient to .gov and pretty oblivious to world affairs, ie, it's so far away it won't affect me... I do have extra supplies of most things but if it was going to be years until they were available again then I'd want more. Though what you say is true for me to an extent, as in I can always find more stuff that I hadn't thought of that may disappear quickly. We did have crazy runs on toilet paper during the scamdemic...

Yes, Australians tend to have more blind obedience to and faith in government than I would have expected considering "its convict past" and its reputation for individualism. It is interesting that non-native Australians (i.e. those born overseas) tend to have a greater mistrust of the govt. This was borne out in the attitude toward compliance to recent scamdemic "health orders".

As a former US citizen, and a renegade, I find it frustrating that people here in Oz can not perceive of the possibility that they should have authority over their own life (as you might find communicated in the US Declaration of Independence).

I have tried unsuccessfully to get a political party, and even a "coalition", going to push back against government excesses . . . but they do not see the danger of governments assuming that just because they were "elected" that they have the mandate to do ANYTHING.

"Freedom"? What's that?
"We should obey 'the rule of law'", even if (with no separation of legislative and executive parts of govt under the Westminster system) there is no limit to government behaviour.

 

[andrewOz]

I have a friend that is a retired engineer for a major pharmaceutical company. We had a long conversation about this. The problem is not the drugs themselves, most of them can can be made here. The problem is the chemicals used to make the drugs, many of which ARE ONLY MADE IN CHINA. If those get cut off, most U. S. production of drugs will come to a screeching halt.
Two related reasons we can't make the chemicals here are labor costs (it would drive the price of drugs way way way up if they had to pay minimum wage), and the EPA regulatory burden which would also drive prices way way way up.

I observed as early as about five years ago that the US pharmaceutical supply chain was "sick". (Please excuse the metaphor.)
Even back then, sometimes the optimum medicines for certain pediatric use were unavailable even in large hospitals in large metropolitan areas and less-effective medicines had to be used.

I was recently told by someone in northwest US that it has gotten much worse recently.

And the buffoons in Washington DC think it is a good idea to antagonize China . . . where a significant percentage of pharmaceutical pre-cursors are manufactured? They are psychopathic, sociopathic fools.

The best solution for the US is to get rid of the FDA, as a significant percentage of the off-shoring of manufacturing of pharmaceutical pre-cursors and pharmaceutical manufacture is dumb-### regulations and/or dumb-### administration of even reasonable regulations. The recent debacle of baby formula, where FDA regulation sabotages the entire US market and drives up prices is just one example.
The irony is: the pre-cursors and pharmaceuticals are now made in China, where the standards are probably a lot lower than if they were manufactured in the US WITHOUT FDA involvement.

 

[andrewOz]

I have been told many meds are made in China, if true many will die!

An approximate estimation is that ten percent of the US population will die if pharmaceutical supply chains, include refrigeration, are cut.
(This is not a valid number for Australia, as the US population is far more sick.)

These are primarily people dependent upon diabetes and heart medications.
Also imagine the social results of the many people on "mental" drugs if they do not receive those drugs.

 

[andrewOz]

Have solar panels but yes, they won't last too long and I'll need to replace them eventually. Cable and inverters I'll look into, thanks.

One of my essential criteria for the rural property I am seeking is that it must always have free-flowing surface water, for domestic use and for my crops and livestock. (NOT a bore.)
It is desireable that there is enough head and waterflow to generate power from the water flow.

 

[andrewOz]

Good question, like do they have a use by date if sitting in storage?
I also wonder about if the grid goes down, I don't have a battery for the solar but I think they are around 25K. If an EMP went off, would that just wreck all solar equipment anyway?

Needs a longer answer, but the basics are:
Off-grid electrical systems often have a lot of electronics to optimally control them.
There are even some electronics which must "modulate" the voltage level of solar panel voltages into batteries, though admittedly I do not know all of the details. So, an EMP might destroy the controlling system, but the solar panels and batteries might work.

BUT, there is something called MPPT (maximum power point tracking) which is often part of a caravan solar panel system (and perhaps a fixed location system as well). I do not know whether there are any integrated circuits in such a system which can be destroyed, but my first inclination is to say "yes". DYODD (do your own due diligence)
An alternative to MPPT is PWM (pulse width modulation), which is not as efficient as MPPT for caravan use, but I do not know whether that is true for fixed-installation use, nor do I know whether it too uses integrated circuits. DYODD

 

[rainingcatzanddogs]

Living in Australia, I am wondering about what supplies I should buy if China is to move on Taiwan, cutting off supplies to Australia as the shipping channels are closed.
I'm thinking things like light bulbs, batteries, bird netting, zip ties, shoes, medicines and so on. I would like to have a comprehensive list so I can go to the hardware store as soon as it happens and get the extra stuff, just don't want to miss anything. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

I just looked up what your major imports are from China and it looks mostly to be electronics. But, I also ran across and watched this video yesterday from Australia, in which it talks about how, should China go after Tiawan, the first target will be the US bases in the Pacific, not excluding Hawaii.
If that is the case, then you can probably add any goods you import from both the US and Japan as well.
They talk about the problems of supply lines in Australia at the 35 minute mark.

 

[Arcticdude]

I'd be fine if we stopped importing anything from China. It might hurt some people for a short period of time but other countries would pick up manufacturing the same cheap crap that China does now. Anything important we'll begin making here in the US, like we used to.

 

[GaRp58]

I imagine it will be something small that I overlooked that will cause issues.

Hi, walk yourself thru a nightmare and make a list of everything in every drawer, shelf, box and corner. Look a every tool with which you could not live with or replace easily. Check every spare part, drive chain, sparkplug, filter, oil, lightbulb, connector, cable, blade, handle or lid from every machine.
All the rubber bands, paper clips, cotton swabs, toothbrushes, shoestrings, paintbrushes, lighters, knife sharpeners, can openers, beltbuckles, spare glasses, welding rods, fuses, batteries and charger, etc, etc, walk thru and look at simply everything and make a list of what to get slowly...or what, quicker.

 

[user 7691]

I just looked up what your major imports are from China and it looks mostly to be electronics. But, I also ran across and watched this video yesterday from Australia, in which it talks about how, should China go after Tiawan, the first target will be the US bases in the Pacific, not excluding Hawaii.
If that is the case, then you can probably add any goods you import from both the US and Japan as well.
They talk about the problems of supply lines in Australia at the 35 minute mark.

Great, thanks so much, I'll watch it soon.
Anything we import from Asia, not just China, will be stopping if the shipping stops so that will be pretty much anything at our hardware, fishing and camping stores as well as shoes and clothing and medicines. All I can think of off the top of my head that we import from USA are Leatherman tools and Berkey filters! We are So dependent on Asia.

 

[user 7691]

Hi, walk yourself thru a nightmare and make a list of everything in every drawer, shelf, box and corner. Look a every tool with which you could not live with or replace easily. Check every spare part, drive chain, sparkplug, filter, oil, lightbulb, connector, cable, blade, handle or lid from every machine.
All the rubber bands, paper clips, cotton swabs, toothbrushes, shoestrings, paintbrushes, lighters, knife sharpeners, can openers, beltbuckles, spare glasses, welding rods, fuses, batteries and charger, etc, etc, walk thru and look at simply everything and make a list of what to get slowly...or what, quicker.

Thanks very much, that's a common sense approach. I suppose if it's something I will need then I will already have it and it's about being able to replace what I already have when I need it. Though I suppose my way of doing things would be to buy an extra mower, for example, rather than buying spare parts for my current one. To have a back up of each thing I will need. Maybe not an extra car though...

 

[user 7691]

I'd be fine if we stopped importing anything from China. It might hurt some people for a short period of time but other countries would pick up manufacturing the same cheap crap that China does now. Anything important we'll begin making here in the US, like we used to.

That's nice.

 

[Proud Prepper]

Thanks very much, that's a common sense approach. I suppose if it's something I will need then I will already have it and it's about being able to replace what I already have when I need it. Though I suppose my way of doing things would be to buy an extra mower, for example, rather than buying spare parts for my current one. To have a back up of each thing I will need. Maybe not an extra car though...

For a prepper. Two is one. Three is two. One is none!

 

[andrewOz]

I'd be fine if we stopped importing anything from China. It might hurt some people for a short period of time but other countries would pick up manufacturing the same cheap crap that China does now. Anything important we'll begin making here in the US, like we used to.

I think you are underestimating the extent of the products China produces.
For instance, there are many electronics devices (even some US military hardware) which depend upon components from China as the sole source.
It might be difficult to replace all those sources, as many of them will require extensive product-specific knowledge.

 

[rainingcatzanddogs]

I think you are underestimating the extent of the products China produces.
For instance, there are many electronics devices (even some US military hardware) which depend upon components from China as the sole source.
It might be difficult to replace all those sources, as many of them will require extensive product-specific knowledge.

The US government stopped buying anything from China in the way of critical electronics some time ago. My husband deals with many military contracts for computer hardware components in his job.

There are only two facilities in the world that all military/ US government chips are allowed to be manufactured at. One is in South Korea, the other, is Tiawan. Even where the parts are assembled and by whom, is closely restricted. That is why Tiawan is so crucial to us and any other military that does not want to increase the risk of Chinese sabotage and/or cyber crime.