Taiwanese citizens train for Chinese invasion

Taipei, April 5 (United Press International) — On a recent Saturday in Taipei, dozens of men and women gathered at the community center beneath a 100-year-old red-brick Presbyterian church. At first glance, it looks like the scene of a cooking or language class, but the students are here for a more serious subject: lessons on what to do if China invades, a once-out-of-reach prospect increasingly seen as A very real possibility on this self-governing island.

The full-day course is organized by Kuma Academy, the most famous of the few civil defense training institutions that have sprung up in Taiwan in recent years. In front of a banner marked by a cartoon bear with an assault rifle (the group’s Chinese name is “black bear”), instructors teach students about cognitive warfare, invasion scenarios and how to identify Chinese soldiers.

advertise

In the afternoon, on-site first aid and rescue sessions included using tourniquets and performing evacuation actions — skills that, according to Ball Mill Academy co-founder He Zhenghui, were long overdue.

“Although Taiwan has been under the threat of Chinese military invasion for the past 70 years, there has been no sense of preparation for war,” Ho said in an interview with UPI.

Security expert Ho, who co-founded the nonprofit Kuma Academy with disinformation expert Puma Shen in late 2021, has seen a surge in demand for courses across the country amid continued provocations from both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

“In people’s general imagination of war, it’s just something that happens between two armies, and it doesn’t actually affect civilians,” Ho said. “Our goal is to start building comprehensive civil defense readiness in all aspects of Taiwanese society.”

The class runs four or five times a week across the island, costs about $35, and usually sells out within minutes of tickets going on sale.This Saturday, many students — mostly in their 20s and 30s, more than half of whom are women — brought up the Russian invasion Ukraine as a catalyst for participation.

“The Ukrainian-Russian war really hit me because we also had a hostile neighbor who wanted to attack us,” said Xie Huiyin, a 32-year-old attendee.

“In Taiwan, we are taught to be prepared for an earthquake, to have an emergency kit at home,” she said. “I think we should take the same approach to war – if you’re prepared, you don’t panic.”

At the heart of the introductory course is a kind of psychological bootcamp designed to give citizens the mindset and tools to overcome hopelessness or a false sense of security about the threat from China.

Beijing considers the democratic island of 23 million people a wayward province and has vowed to seize control of it by force if necessary. (Taiwan was never part of the mainland of the People’s Republic of China, which was founded in 1949 and rejects Beijing’s claims to sovereignty.)

Chinese aircraft incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone have become almost routine in recent years, a tactic Taipei’s military has dubbed “gray zone” warfare designed to weaken Taiwan’s defenses and weaken its morale.

Beijing has also launched waves of cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns aimed at confusing and intimidating citizens and undermining their confidence in the Taipei government, as the Kuma Academy course details.

Since June, more than 1,000 people have taken Kuma Academy’s introductory course, dubbed “Basis Camp.” However, as the organization continues to strengthen operations and expand the scope of its courses, it is targeting a much larger audience: training 3 million citizens over the next three years.

The group got a huge boost in September, when Taiwanese semiconductor giant UMC founder Chao Guowei pledged to donate more than $30 million to train millions of “ball mill warriors.”

It is likely that there will be a market for these lofty goals.According to Taiwan National Security Research pollcitizens’ willingness to resist Chinese invasion jumped from 33% in September 2020 to 47% in December 2022.

Chen Fangyu, an assistant professor of political science at Soochow University in Taipei, said the trend was largely attributable to grassroots organizations like Kengo Kuma.

“[Kuma Academy] Now it is playing a very important role,” Chen told UPI. “Their training has improved Taiwan’s determination and readiness to defend itself. After people take this class, I’m sure they’ll know what to do and won’t give up. “

Presidential Administration of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen-wen also took steps to counter the threat from China, increasing defense spending by 14%, extension of compulsory military service From four months to a year.

Chen said he would like to see greater coordination between private organizations and the government to add elements such as weapons training.

“There is a gap between the citizens and the military,” he said. “The government should take advantage of the popularity of civil defense courses to organize additional military training.”

At the same time, KMT Wu Sihuai and other members of the opposition party criticism of the civil defense planaccusing the ruling DPP of lacking confidence in the country’s armed forces.

However, for many Kuma Academy students in the basement of the church, the day’s class left them inspired and ready for more training.

“Even after a day, the class gave me a lot of confidence,” said Jen Wu, a 31-year-old IT professional. “I know Taiwan is not as weak as some people think, but seeing all the information organized so systematically It’s been really helpful. I want to take some advanced classes and see what I can do to help more.”

Kuma’s Ho said this mentality is critical to deter and counter Chinese aggression.

“[China is] It is very clear that everything really depends on whether the people of Taiwan are willing to insist on maintaining their own society,” Ho said. “So one of the goals of the Kumo Academy is to arouse and wake up people’s courage and willingness to continue to stand up for themselves. “