Supplies to buy if China takes Taiwan

[user 7691]

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.

 

[Markcl]

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

 

[poltiregist]

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.

Sounds like you have already put serious thought into this . Appears to be a good list to me . I would suggest though if you haven't already positioned yourself for self sufficiency , as in producing your own food , put some of that good thinking in that direction .

 

[user 7691]

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

Yes, but many are made in India as well and when China moves, nothing will come out of Asia for some time. Shoes made in Vietnam won't be shipped. Underwear, socks, clothing in general. Antibiotics, prednisolone, anti fungals, so many things that if we can't get, then small problems will become serious ones.

 

[user 7691]

Sounds like you have already put serious thought into this . Appears to be a good list to me . I would suggest though if you haven't already positioned yourself for self sufficiency , as in producing your own food , put some of that good thinking in that direction .

I am on 7 acres, have ample rainwater, chickens, ducks, pigeons, quail, sheep, snakes and rabbits. Have a bore with drinkable water and am basically self sufficient with fruit and veg, as well as firewood. I am blessed to be in this position. But it's the stuff I haven't thought of that concerns me. Extra chains for the chainsaw, oils and so on. I imagine it will be something small that I overlooked that will cause issues.

 

[Survivor_316]

I don't know if these would actually be difficult to find, but things which come to mind:

Undies, jeans, winter coat
Anything made with iron that you need
Gaskets for canning if you use that sort of canner
Tea if you drink it
Filters for hvac systems or water filtration if you use something produced there
Shoe laces
Extra chargers for electric devices

 

[user 7482]

First of all - My sight is a european one...

Then - You´d better fill your shed with all kinds of tools. And think far into the future - what could you need in a few years... (Bicycle wheels and inner tubes, Wheels for your car). Clothing is a huge thing too. Do you have still growing kids? All kind´s of spare parts - I just rebuild a Stihl chainsaw from chinese parts.

What´s not "made in China"? Even the most canned tomatoes (with some funny italian design) are from China. A lot of raw materials (plastics for example) comes from there and then get´s processed to goods over here.

A full deliverystop would cause extreme shortage affecting the industries, consumers, producers, craftsmen - short: All.

Buy / organise with both eyes open and start now. It´s more affordable when you have some paychecks between those shopping tours.

Edit:
Think about radio / ham - transceiver

 

[DrHenley]

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

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.

 

[user 7691]

I don't know if these would actually be difficult to find, but things which come to mind:

Undies, jeans, winter coat
Anything made with iron that you need
Gaskets for canning if you use that sort of canner
Tea if you drink it
Filters for hvac systems or water filtration if you use something produced there
Shoe laces
Extra chargers for electric devices

Thanks for that, thinking of growing tea.

 

[user 7691]

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.

It's a crazy situation. I guess that money sent to Ukraine (and laundered back to those special folk) could have paid to make US independent with drugs.
I've been thinking how a family should be run kind of like a little country, then the community would ideally be made up of families who are united to support one another, each family able to produce or supply something unique in the community. We are So dependent on others, it will be interesting to see how people go when it all falls apart. I think the biggest issue will be illness though and lack of drugs and medical care.

 

[user 7691]

I don't know if these would actually be difficult to find, but things which come to mind:

Undies, jeans, winter coat
Anything made with iron that you need
Gaskets for canning if you use that sort of canner
Tea if you drink it
Filters for hvac systems or water filtration if you use something produced there
Shoe laces
Extra chargers for electric devices

Oh, and definitely lots of fishing gear! Can't have enough hooks and line at least. Cord, string.... it would be interesting I guess to compile a complete list of stuff, starting with the most important to the least. At least if you've got decent string then you don't need to worry about shoe laces and so on.

 

[user 7482]

I´d ad Solar panels and matching smallparts & cable and inverters on your list!

 

[Proud Prepper]

It's a crazy situation. I guess that money sent to Ukraine (and laundered back to those special folk) could have paid to make US independent with drugs.
I've been thinking how a family should be run kind of like a little country, then the community would ideally be made up of families who are united to support one another, each family able to produce or supply something unique in the community. We are So dependent on others, it will be interesting to see how people go when it all falls apart. I think the biggest issue will be illness though and lack of drugs and medical care.

I'd suggest looking into emergency medicine like Chlorine Dioxide, medicinal herbs and essential oil.

 

[user 7691]

I'd suggest looking into emergency medicine like Chlorine Dioxide, medicinal herbs and essential oil.

Thanks, I will.

 

[user 7691]

I´d ad Solar panels and matching smallparts & cable and inverters on your list!

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.

 

[DrHenley]

Question: Do solar panels wear out if you don't use them?
If not, you could buy a lot of spare solar panels.

 

[user 7691]

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?

 

[Proud Prepper]

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?

They degrade over time, but still produce. Out of the sun they will degrade slower. You can protect your panels from EMP.

 

[Proud Prepper]

They degrade over time, but still produce. Out of the sun they will degrade slower. You can protect your panels from EMP.

Degradation is about .5 to 1.5 % a year in operation. There's EMP shield and other protection for Solar systems.

 

[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.

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.

 

[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-ass regulations and/or dumb-ass 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.