The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it would humbly accept criticism over its civil defense handbook and update it on a rolling basis after illustrations of Chinese military uniforms in the publication were criticized.
An administrator of Facebook group “IDF Ching-kuo Fighter” (IDF經國號) on Tuesday, mere hours after the updated All Out Defense Handbook was released, wrote that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) last year replaced older uniforms with its Type-21 family of combat and work uniforms, they said, citing reports from Chinese media.
However, the handbook portrayed the outdated uniforms, the post said.
Photo from the civil defense handbook
The new uniforms do not distinguish between the branches, the post said.
The ministry said the handbook’s “visual guide to enemy forces” in a chapter titled “Identification Friend or Foe” could not use photographs of the uniforms due to copyright concerns issues, adding that it would discuss how illustrations in future editions could better reflect reality.
The handbook shows PLA military in different uniforms according to branch and distinct patterns for summer, winter, jungle and desert.
The guide was to ensure that civilians would be able to distinguish PLA combatants from Taiwanese soldiers, said Lin Chen-kai (林楨凱), who is in charge of material mobilization at the All-out Defense Mobilization Agency.
The book would be updated if Taiwan or China introduces new uniforms, Lin said.
Asked about the similarities of uniforms, Major General Lin Wen-huang (林文皇), who is in charge of operational planning at the ministry, said that soldiers routinely use armbands to facilitate identification.
The color of the bands are rotated regularly to avoid the enemy from using the same color as a ruse, he said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
A man in Tainan has been cleared on charges of public insult after giving the middle finger during a road rage incident, as judges deemed the gesture was made “briefly to express negative feelings.” In last week’s ruling at the High Court’s Tainan branch, judges acquitted a driver, surnamed Cheng (程), for an incident along Tainan’s Nanmen Road in September 2023, when Cheng had spotted a place to park his car in an adjacent lane. Cheng slowed down his vehicle to go into reverse, to back into the parking spot, but the car behind followed too closely, as its driver thought Cheng
DEFENSE: The purpose of the exercises is to identify strategies for the government to control risks during tensions, prevent war and bolster national resilience A tabletop exercise series has begun simulating possible scenarios if the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched a war against Taiwan in the guise of a military exercise. The exercise series is jointly organized by National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations, Taiwan Center for Security Studies and Asia-Pacific Policy Research Association. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Yeong-kang (陳永康), former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Stanton and Taiwan Center for Security Studies director Liu Fu-kuo (劉復國) attended the event in Taipei yesterday. Scenarios that would be simulated include changing political circumstances in the US during US President Donald Trump’s tenure
RSS