Taiwan Bolsters Civil Defense as Beijing Ramps Up Military Pressure

By Li Ming, Vision Times

As Beijing intensifies military pressure and cognitive warfare against Taiwan, a growing civil defense movement is taking shape across the self-ruling island in hopes of preparing ordinary citizens for emergencies that could range from natural disasters to a potential attack by mainland China.

More than 30 volunteer organizations have emerged across Taiwan in recent years, according to The New York Times. Their training ranges from first aid, evacuation, emergency communications, and survival skills to identifying disinformation and responding to cognitive warfare.

The movement comes as China conducts increasingly-frequent military exercises around Taiwan. U.S. officials have said Chinese leader Xi Jinping instructed the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to be capable of invading Taiwan by 2027. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s government has meanwhile promoted a “whole-of-society defense resilience” strategy since 2024, seeking to integrate the military with civilian emergency response, health care, energy, transportation, and communications systems.

RELATED: Taiwan, Japan Call for Unity to Counter Beijing’s Transnational Repression

For the best of our weekly content！

You are now signed up for our newsletter

Check your email to complete sign up

Though Taiwan operates as an independent nation since its establishment in 1949, Beijing views the island as a “breakaway province,” and has vowed to reclaim it by any means necessary, even if that means resorting to military force to achieve unification, which Beijing claims as “inevitable.”

Defense movement gaining ground

Public attitudes also suggest growing interest in preparedness. A survey found that roughly 60 percent of Taiwanese would be willing to defend the island if Beijing attempted to change the cross-strait status quo by force. Among the most prominent organizations is Black Bear Academy, also known as Kuma Academy, a civil defense group established in 2021 that says it has trained more than 100,000 people.

Its courses cover first aid, survival and evacuation procedures, information verification, and cognitive warfare. The organization also conducts large-scale exercises designed to teach participants how to respond if normal services are disrupted.

Women account for more than 70 percent of participants, says Black Bear Academy, with most trainees between the ages of 25 and 45. Many are motivated not by a desire to engage in combat, the group says, but to protect themselves, their families, and their communities during a crisis.

Beyond cognitive warfare

Civil preparedness complements Taiwan’s so-called “porcupine strategy,” the concept of making the island so difficult and costly to attack that Beijing is deterred from attempting an invasion. Unable to match China’s military in sheer numbers of troops, ships, and aircraft, Taiwan has increasingly emphasized mobile, dispersed, and relatively inexpensive weapons that are difficult for an adversary to eliminate. Drones have become an increasingly important component of that asymmetric approach.

RELATED: Chinese Nationals Slip Into Taiwan Undetected, Raising Security Concerns

Civil society could provide another layer of resistance, analysts note. During a conflict, trained volunteers could help maintain communications, provide first aid, conduct search-and-rescue operations, evacuate civilians, and keep essential community functions operating, making it more difficult for military strikes to rapidly paralyze society.

Taiwan’s civil defense advocates are also preparing for a battlefield that extends beyond missiles and warships. Taiwanese authorities have repeatedly accused Beijing of using disinformation, propaganda, social-media manipulation, and psychological operations to undermine public confidence and deepen divisions within Taiwanese society.