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© 2023 AFPTaiwan civilians train for Chinese invasion
By Yan ZHAO and Jack MOORE Taipei©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
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© 2023 AFP
47 Comments
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Clay
Too little too late, they need serious Submarine capabilities ASAP!
Madverts
Boycott China on every level.
This is the way...
virusrex
Sad that this is seen as a necessary step, but with the current world situation, the growing aggressive stance of China and the precedent of what happened in Ukraine it is understandable that the population want to be prepared for this scenario.
deanzaZZR
Against a volunteer army from the PRC drawn from a population of 1.4 billion. Good luck! You will need it.
What is this obsession with Taiwan and China on JT? Give it a rest for a few days, please. It's an LDP thing or an American thing or a LDPAmerica thing. Think Peace.
Clay
No, funny thing about Submarines and keeping the peace, something about Taiwan Straits!
It's clear US if not already doing so, needs to train and equip. Taiwanese sailors in all forms of underwater warfare, China's military's major Achilles heel.
Ditto for Australia, Japan, South Korea!
TaiwanIsNotChina
A sensible move as criminal PRC will likely go for a decapitation strike and then it will be up to every man, woman, and child to take a PLA/PLN member with them to the grave.
Kumagaijin
The CCP forces would likely take out the electrical grid, transportation and communication systems first, followed by a naval quarantine and attempt to force the Taiwanese government to surrender. A ground attack could follow. You might see something similar to when the Viet Cong took control of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh) with people hanging from helicopters as the government flees and takes political exile in the United States.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The PRC won't be able to get even a couple hundred over to the island successfully without the majority ending up at the bottom of the strait. This will not be a land war and that will be Taiwan's advantage.
Then stop saying Taiwan should be enslaved or destroyed!
TaiwanIsNotChina
Unfortunately for the CCP they can't just roll tanks into Taipei. They have to get past mines, subs, and aircraft from Taiwan and the US. You'd be surprised how long people can hold out resisting enslavement, too. Mariupol lasted 3 months and that was with a near airtight siege. That's plenty of time for the US to launch a subsequent phase of chocking off supplies to the mainland! All in all, it will be a stiff price for Jinping to get his rocks.
Clay
Underwater WAREFARE's ONLY winning defense!
CCP might think twice were to discover at some stage, Taiwan had ballistic submarine missile capabilities, preferably most advanced types with nuclear warheads that scatter when told to so in flight, including hypersonics!
That ought to do the trick!
Clay
Such outsourcing to well vetted Navies across world, WILL CONTAIN CHINA's aggression let there be no doubt!
Clay
Navy Seals will need to be on all such outsourced submarines, as risk hedge, those guys don't play around, killers with top IQs and nice guys in my experience!
elephant200
"YinJeoh Ma" will be appointed to be the first govonor of Taiwan in PRC Taiwan. Like Hong Kong , a local statesman as govonor ruling local people. A brilliant idea good for Taiwanese and Chinese in Taiwan province!
Sven Asai
Still better than nothing, but that course is the absolute minimum, already if there’s only peace around. It’s by far not a sufficient preparation for a wartime situation. When I was young such simple basic courses were taught from elementary to high school and final proven knowledge was a prerequisite for getting a driver’s license as an example. No, what Taiwan needs is very much more than such a simple training of helping wounded people or packing an emergency bag, if they want to have chance in case of conflict. They will also need knowledge of transportation of wounded, putting on ABC suits and gas masks under time limits, and last but not least, training on far and low distance weapons and self-defense, including a few basic gun handling and training shots, so that all these courses at least contain a few minutes of real practice, not only theory from projector presentations.
TaiwanIsNotChina
If you think he is going to surrender one iota of Taiwan's independence, you have another thing coming.
Blacklabel
dont count on the USA saving Taiwan like they are trying to save Ukraine.
Tell_me_bout_it
Tell that to your american corporations running sweatshops in China.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Jinping certainly does or he wouldn't back down every week/month.
ian
Would Taiwan stand a chance if the whole population consists of professional soldiers?
ian
They are trying to save Ukraine?
Clay
You're right Ian, no chance unless naval landing's not in the cards, hence my submarine thoughts that are HOPEFULLY already becoming reality!
Clay
Anyone protecting THEIR country has ONLY ONE allegiance! One can also hope for good relations with China and all other nation states, it's not mutually exclusive!
quercetum
The US and Taiwan don’t have a military alliance. Even the Japanese doubt the US would do anything if a NK missile landed on Honshu and that’s with a security agreement.
The point is whether nuclear warfare and arms are at that country’s disposal. If you’ve got nuclear arsenal the US won’t get involved. The U.S. just picks on the weak little countries. Don’t expect them to fight against bigger countries.
The Taiwanese have not even received the US arms they purchased from the US way before the war began in Ukraine. The weapons aren’t even ones they are sending to Ukraine. Help is on the way! Sure.
Who can blame the Taiwanese for cursing the US on TV panel discussions?
quercetum
Good catch. They’re not trying to save Ukraine. They just want to hurt Russia and hope for a meltdown then go for their oil.
ClippetyClop
A new conspiracy! After the Nazis and NATO excuses fell flat, Putin fans are now fantasising that America wants to invade Russia and steal its oil! Even Vlad hasn't invented that one yet.
One must admire their imagination and dedication to Putin.
Jasper Cole
The CCP’s annexation of Taiwan would be a direct attack on the free world, and China’s military invasion of Taiwan would result in an even greater worldwide disaster.
Fighto!
Full respect and support to the Taiwanese and their right to keep their beloved, democratic nation free of Chinese.
If the Chinese were dumb enough to attempt to invade free Taiwan, may every weapon available- military and home made - be used against them.
Communist China will never rule Taiwan.
wolfshine
I think a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be a huge disaster for the CCP, absolutely more so than Putin's invasion of the Ukraine. Unlike Ukraine, Taiwan does not consist of flatland, actually being quite mountainous, and also does not share a land border with its adversary. Moreover, Taiwan gets hit by typhoons pretty frequently, meaning that the Chinese military would have to time their attack very carefully in order to maximize the initial damage.
Then they need to conduct an amphibious assault which the Taiwanese are obviously expecting and have a plan in place for. It will be like Normandy for the Chinese, but worse, because they're not fighting an exhausted enemy stuck defending another nation's conquered beach. So they will need to send waves upon waves of men uphill as they get hit from above. Then they will have to deal with the guerilla tactics if they make any progress inland.
Then there is the domestic factor on the Chinese side. If the casualties pile up, and it looks like the war is getting nowhere/will drag on forever, then Xi's power could be seriously threatened, as wars have often led to regime change. It is absurdly risky and unless they intentionally want to sabotage their own progress as a developing superpower, I don't think it will pan out the way people are imagining.
Xi is definitely bound to try to satiate the bloodthirsty radicals by flexing in some manner, perhaps by doing something like blowing up an opposing vessel or shelling some island. Maybe provoking Japan in some manner, who knows. But an invasion is far-fetched. Also, aside from geographical conditions, invading Ukraine was kind of low-hanging fruit for Putin because, let's be honest, his neighbor is run by corrupt and incompetent buffoons, and they were definitely not ready in the same way that Taiwan would be.
1glenn
Maybe if Xi dies suddenly of natural causes, China's foreign policy will take a different direction, and the world can be spared another unnecessary war.
kaimycahl
People talk about a million man army and China dropping bombs on Taiwan who is to say it will not be the other way around? *There are no weapons, just vital training on how to react to China's hybrid warfare. Taiwan has missiles they aren't that far from China and their military pilots are better trained. On another note *People talk about how many guns there are in the USA. If China was to ever invade and send their troops to the USA they will NEVER survive in a ground assault because the US citizens would be heavily armed and they have a trillion guns their troops would never stand a chance of returning home alive. It would be total urban warfare and they would return back to China in body bags. The only way they could attempt to win would be Nukes and shooting from a distance and in any case that would put them at their own demise! Taiwan if the citizens had guns to protect themselves perhaps they would not worry. Please don't get me wrong those who have guns for personal protection I applaud but those who have them for total criminal activity I dislike. I do believe their is a right in the US to bare arms and in this case it verifies THE reason why!
theFu
The reason the US has the 2nd amendment is because of Britain soldiers demanding to be "quartered" in American homes. Someone comes to your house, they have guns, and demand that you give them a place to sleep, and feed them. When the US Constitution was created, that was in their memory and they didn't want it to happen again.
Ever seen "The Patriot"? It was a different time, but parents still teach their kids the same values in the US. They expect to take ownership for protecting their families and their community. A healthy distrust towards police and others inside the govt is taught to most Americans.
Wise words for all of us, regardless of our place in the world.
TaiwanIsNotChina
In Hong Kong, the PRC had existing mainland politicians and police in control. What makes you think even a hypocritical KMT would let Chinese troops land without resistance? People don't generally just say, "well, that's it. Time to sell myself into slavery."
TaiwanIsNotChina
Jinping certainly thinks they do or he wouldn't back down every week/month.
The same is true of Nazi Russia. It hasn't yet laid a finger on NATO countries but goes for broke on ones that aren't (yet).
I believe some sources are in order. 60% of Taiwanese want nothing to do with the mainland. Maybe you found the occasional nutter that does.
The US certainly isn't there to rape, murder, and pillage like Russia.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Criminal PRC sets the labor laws, but thank you for playing.
RichardPearce
Funny how Xi would be 'invading' China's breakaway island province of Taipei, but Zelensky wouldn't be invading Ukraine's breakaway island province of Crimea.
deanzaZZR
In my time living in Taiwan and visits afterwards I never got the impression that Taiwanese were much into military stuff. Yes, men had compulsury training but it wasn't very demanding.
People point at the PLA and say they haven't fought a war since 1979 (a good thing most would agree). The last time ROC forces fought a war was back in 1949 when they got steamrolled and had to flee to the island of Taiwan.
Zaphod
Another stupid fearmongering article. Yes, the CCP wants to own Taiwan, but no, they definitely do not have an appetite for a bloody war to achieve that. They will get there eventually by slow pressure and infiltration. UNLESS the US is stupid enough to put troops and missiles into Taiwan. Then, the neocons/neolibs can have their Ukraine moment. But maybe that is what they want.
Zaphod
RichardPearce
Crimea was always Russian and was only gifted to the Ukraine administration by Chrustchew in a night of drunken stupor in Kiev in 1955. Which at that time was a meaningless gesture, as it all was the Soviet Union. The idea that today, with the Ukraine government having turned into a US puppet, ANY Russian goverment would allow Sevastopol to become a Nato harbour and the Black Sea a Nato lake is asinine. Anyone who pushes for that is pushing for nuclear WW3.
2020hindsights
RichardPearce
The CCP has never ruled in Taiwan - it has never been communist. In fact Taiwan claims China as its own.
So quite different.
falseflagsteve
Government propaganda used to induce fear and compliance, similar to what happens in rogue nations with vaccine passports. Orwell’s predictions were correct.
TaiwanIsNotChina
No, its not funny: the entire world acknowledged Crimea was part of Ukraine, thus making the theft of it an illegal war and a war crime.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Russia had a lease on Sevastopol, making the outright theft of it asinine. No one in the world said it was legally Russia in 2013. Also Russia has other Black Sea coast so it should stop trying to make it a Russia lake.
TaiwanIsNotChina
1) Steamrolled with Soviet gear. The PRC has a divine mandate from Moscow. 2). The ROC won't be one that has to land, charge positions and take them. They just have to fire in the general vicinity of CCP boats. Russia made the mistake of assuming people wouldn't die to repel conquerers. Time will tell if the CCP makes the same mistake.