TAIPEI—Taiwan’s Pegatron Corp, which assembles iPhones for Apple Inc, said on Tuesday it had suspended operations at its Shanghai and Kunshan plants in China due to the strict COVID-19 protocols. The Chinese regime has put Shanghai under a tight lockdown since late March and neighbouring Kunshan has also tightened curbs to control the country’s biggest COVID-19 outbreak since the coronavirus was reported in late 2019 in the city of Wuhan. Global companies, from phone to chip makers, are highly dependent on China and Southeast Asia for production and have been diversifying their supply chains after the pandemic caused havoc. According to Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission, as of April 7 a total of 161 listed Taiwanese companies reported their operations in Shanghai and Kunshan have stopped, 41 of them make electronics. “In the best-case scenario, complete resumption of production may not be possible until late April or early May,” analyst Ming-Chi …