Taiwanese Start Intense Training If Tensions With China Rise

Photo by Steven Su on Unsplash

JAKARTA - Taiwanese citizens are starting to get intense training on civil defense tips if China's worst chance of invading Taiwan will occur.

It's not about taking up arms. This training is more about how to react to China's hybrid war, as reported by Channel News Asia, Wednesday, April 19.

Those classes are part of Taiwan's growing urgency to prepare for the worst-case scenario after seeing Ukraine's war from afar and undergoing two rounds of China's exercises in the past year, including exercises ending last week.

"When there is a possibility of war, I think we have to get ready," said 45-year-old Doctor Lin Yuh-ting, who attended the Kuma Academy class at Taipei.

"Being on the front line is not the only way to help," he said.

For him, his children aged eight and 12 years should know what to do in the crisis.

There, trained on evacuation preparations, such as finding nearby airstrike shelters and what to pack in emergency bags.

But they are also focused on disinformation about what Beijing's invasion would look like, fighting claims 1,000 missiles showering the island or 50,000 ships landing on its coast.

The training is strengthening psychologically to counter China's narrative of trying to sow distrust of Taiwan's democratic system and its defense capabilities.

Classes throughout the day, which cost $ 1.000 (US $ 33), end with emergency medical training, such as how to install tornets and cover wounds with bandages.

Kuma has coached 10,000 people since January 2022, with classes sold out within minutes of release as Taiwanese residents demand more knowledge of how to keep themselves safe.