The annual civil defense drill was held in Taipei on Thursday, with participants simulating responses to natural disasters and war. The Taipei Fire Department said the exercises emphasized air raid evacuation, distribution of supplies, prevention and control of infectious diseases, and disaster rescue, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported.
CNA cited Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) as saying that this year’s drills involved a scenario in which the military would be unable to provide assistance with those measures. The drills involved rescuers, volunteers, members of civil defense units and reservists, as well as 144 active and reserve alternative service members. A civil defense program with annual exercises helps ensure Taiwan’s readiness in the event of a conflict with China, but the government should expand the scope of the program to include members of the public.
One of the advantages Ukraine had in its defense against Russia’s invasion was having so many civilian volunteers. Civilian involvement in defense is even more crucial in Taiwan, where, unlike Ukraine, evacuation might not be possible after the start of a conflict.
As an island, Taiwan would struggle to evacuate — and it is widely believed that China would impose a blockade around the nation, preventing vessels and aircraft from getting in or out. While Taiwan might receive military assistance from the US and other countries, it would need to rely on itself in the initial period. In such a contingency, the better prepared the public is, the less likely people are to panic, and the more capable they would be to assist with logistical and emergency responses. If able-bodied members of the public could assist with defense operations, Taiwan’s chances would be even better.
United Microelectronics Corp founder Robert Tsao (曹興誠) in September last year donated NT$1 billion (US$32.64 million) to the Kuma Academy, which offers courses on cross-strait geopolitics and strategy, invasion scenarios, disinformation and first aid. Tsao has vowed to train “3 million people in three years” and 300,000 “marksmen” for a civilian militia. Kuma has thousands of people on its waiting list, and demand for airsoft gun training courses at Camp 66 in Taipei has increased, Foreign Policy reported on Dec. 19 last year.
The government should do more to help meet this demand. It could provide weapons training courses to the public without the need for active or reservist training enrollment. It could also encourage public involvement in the civil defense drill, requiring employers to provide paid leave for those who wish to participate, and holding the drills more frequently.
Such training does not need to be limited to adults. The government could introduce subsidized first aid, hand-to-hand combat and weapons training courses to students in high school and university.
The military should do more to make conscription more meaningful. A CNN report on Feb. 20 cited six conscripts as calling mandatory training “outdated, boring and impractical.”
“In our company, we had more than 100 assault rifles, but only slightly more than a dozen could be used for shooting practice,” one conscript said. Outdated bayonet training and the memorization of slogans still play a large part in mandatory service, the report said.
The government must provide more substantial training programs that are useful to scenarios that Taiwanese could actually find themselves in, in the event of a conflict with China. This includes urban warfare, cognitive warfare, cyberwarfare, drone operation, close-range weapons combat and the types of training practiced by the Kuma Academy, and during civil defense drills.
Without useful, meaningful training, the majority of Taiwanese would be ill-prepared in the event of a military conflict.
To The Honorable Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜): We would like to extend our sincerest regards to you for representing Taiwan at the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on Monday. The Taiwanese-American community was delighted to see that Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan speaker not only received an invitation to attend the event, but successfully made the trip to the US. We sincerely hope that you took this rare opportunity to share Taiwan’s achievements in freedom, democracy and economic development with delegations from other countries. In recent years, Taiwan’s economic growth and world-leading technology industry have been a source of pride for Taiwanese-Americans.
Next week, the nation is to celebrate the Lunar New Year break. Unfortunately, cold winds are a-blowing, literally and figuratively. The Central Weather Administration has warned of an approaching cold air mass, while obstinate winds of chaos eddy around the Legislative Yuan. English theologian Thomas Fuller optimistically pointed out in 1650 that “it’s always darkest before the dawn.” We could paraphrase by saying the coldest days are just before the renewed hope of spring. However, one must temper any optimism about the damage being done in the legislature by the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), under
To our readers: Due to the Lunar New Year holiday, from Sunday, Jan. 26, through Sunday, Feb. 2, the Taipei Times will have a reduced format without our regular editorials and opinion pieces. From Tuesday to Saturday the paper will not be delivered to subscribers, but will be available for purchase at convenience stores. Subscribers will receive the editions they missed once normal distribution resumes on Sunday, Feb. 2. The paper returns to its usual format on Monday, Feb. 3, when our regular editorials and opinion pieces will also be resumed.
This year would mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the India Taipei Association (ITA) in Taipei and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) in New Delhi. From the vision of “Look East” in the 1990s, India’s policy has evolved into a resolute “Act East,” which complements Taiwan’s “New Southbound Policy.” In these three decades, India and Taiwan have forged a rare partnership — one rooted in shared democratic values, a commitment to openness and pluralism, and clear complementarities in trade and technology. The government of India has rolled out the red carpet for Taiwanese investors with attractive financial incentives
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