Since Russia’s surprise invasion of Ukraine in February, there has been a palpable spike in anxiety among Taiwan’s population of 23.5 million, which has long faced similar threats from its powerful authoritarian neighbor China.
These events have created a new urgency among civilians seeking to take the defense of their homes and loved ones into their own hands – creating a sudden influx of both men and women seeking weapons and emergency medical training. Bookings at Polar Light Training have almost quadrupled this year.
I had previously attended Taiwanese military exercises displaying heavy weapons, fighter jets and warships; now I wanted to meet the untrained civilians who sacrificed their weekends in the sweltering summer heat so they could prepare for the nightmare scenario of soldiers showing up at their doors. I hovered with my notebook on the sidelines of the shooting practice, hoping to find out why ordinary citizens flocked here. What would their plan be if China attacked?
“I think an invasion is going to happen”
For decades, Taiwanese have lived under the shadow of an invasion by the Chinese Communist Party, which claims the island democracy as its own territory, although it has never ruled there since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
In the wake of 2019’s relentless crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, Xi Jinping, China’s president, has offered increasingly bellicose rhetoric about seizing control of Taiwan by force, and paired it with increased naval and air force exercises around the island’s borders in a clear strategy of intimidation.
Even so, it was only after Moscow’s brutal assault on Ukraine, reinforced by harrowing images of civilian casualties on daily Taiwanese television broadcasts, that the terrifying prospect of war hit the Taiwanese public – and they began to wonder if they could be next.
“I came to this course because of the war in Ukraine,” said Su Jun, a 39-year-old tattoo artist. “I personally think that a [Chinese] the invasion will happen in the next few years. I don’t want to use a gun and then not know how to do it.
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