The Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP) yesterday slammed the annual Wanan air defense exercise as “just for show,” saying that only meaningful exercises would help increase the public’s survivability against the threat posed by China.
The party said that based on videos of the drill the party had recorded, there were multiple failings, such as using the National Police Agency’s mobile app, but ultimately failing to find a shelter.
All the presidential candidates and the Ministry of National Defense have said that the exercise should not be faked, yet the TSP found, after making videos of the exercises nationwide, that participants had failed to reach even the lowest standards in terms of performance, TSP Taipei chapter director Wu Hsin-tai (吳欣岱) said.
Photo: CNA
The government claims that there are more than 100,000 air raid shelters nationwide, but most of them are inaccessible, she said.
TSP Chairman Wang Hsing-huan (王興煥) said the party’s call for the government to emphasize the realism of the Wanan exercise has gone unheeded and they could hardly be called “preparation for war.”
He said how people in high-risk areas should be evacuated has also been passed over.
How organizations with first aid, gas masks and other materials should mobilize, as well as civil defense groups, were also not touched upon, he added.
Compared with Japan’s Yonaguni Island, which has started building shelters that could withstand missile strikes, Taiwan’s “shelters” are mostly the basements of apartment buildings and would be insufficient, Wang said.
He said that Taiwan must reinforce three mindsets — that China is the enemy, that war is not as distant as believed, and that people should sacrifice some of their freedoms and rights and cooperate with the government’s mobilization efforts.
He was critical of the government’s belief that such exercises would “disturb people” and said it was a petty excuse, as 19.2 percent of Taiwanese have said they are willing to mobilize to resist a Chinese invasion.
Wang also cited civilian defense classes held by the Kuma Academy, a non-profit organization focused on civil defense topics such as first aid and media literacy, which have been fully booked with a significant waiting list.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS