The march, part of Taiwan’s efforts to prevent a Chinese invasion, was packed with 200 reservists on a trainer. “Once all the hearsay was done, there was very little time to actually carry out the instructions,” Chen said. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the importance of mobilizing civilians when under attack, as Ukraine’s reserve forces helped repel the invaders. Almost halfway around the world, it has highlighted Taiwan’s weaknesses on this front, mainly in two areas: its reserves and its civil defense. While no invasion appears imminent, China’s recent large-scale military exercises in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan have made the government in Taipei more aware than ever of the hard power behind Beijing’s rhetoric to reclaim the self. -ruled island under his control. Experts said civil defense and reserve forces have a significant deterrent effect, signaling to a potential attacker that the risks of an invasion are high. Even before the March invasion of Ukraine, Taiwan was working to reform both. The question is whether it will be enough. Taiwan’s reserves are meant to support its 188,000-strong army, which is 90% volunteers and 10% men doing their four-month mandatory military service. On paper, the 2.3 million reservists enable Taiwan to match China’s 2 million army. However, the reserve system has long been criticized. Many, like Chen, felt that the seven days of training for mostly ex-soldiers was a waste of time that did not prepare them well enough. The number of combat-ready reservists – those who could immediately join front-line fighting – is only about 300,000, said Wang Ting-yu, a lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party who serves on the legislature’s defense committee. “In Ukraine, if in the first three days of the war it had collapsed, no matter how strong your army is, you could not fight the war,” Wang said. “A resilient society can rise to this challenge. So that you do not collapse when you encounter disasters and war.’ Taiwan reorganized its backup system in January, which is now coordinated by a new body called the All Out Defense Mobilization Agency, which will also take over the civil defense system in the event of an emergency. One major change was the piloting of a more intensive two-week training instead of the standard one week, which would eventually be rolled out to the 300,000 combat-ready reservists. The remaining reserves can play a more defensive role, such as defending bridges, Wang said. Dennis Xi participated in the renewed training for two weeks in May at an abandoned construction site on the northern coast of Taiwan. It was raining for half an hour, he said. The rest was warm. The training coincided with the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic. Wearing raincoats and masks, the reservists dug trenches and practiced mortars and marching. “Your whole body was covered in mud, even on your boots there was mud,” Xi said. However, he said he had more time than during his mandatory four-month tour of duty three years ago and felt motivated because senior officers carried out the exercises with them. “The main thing is when it’s time to serve your country, then you have to do it,” he said. There are plans to reform the civil defense force as well, Wang said, although much of the discussion has not yet been widely publicized. The Civil Defense Force, which is under the National Police Service, is a holdover from an era of authoritarian rule before Taiwan’s transition to democracy in the 1980s and 1990s. Its members are mostly people who are too old to qualify as reservists but still want to serve. “It has not kept up with the times and has not kept up with our combat capability,” Wang said. Planned changes include requiring the force to include security guards employed by some of Taiwan’s largest companies and the inclusion of women, who are not required to serve in the military. About 73 percent of Taiwanese say they would be willing to fight for Taiwan if China invades, according to surveys by Kuan-chen Lee at the Defense Ministry-affiliated Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a number that has remained consistent. The Ukraine war, at least initially, shook some people’s confidence in America’s willingness to come to Taiwan’s aid in the event of an attack. While 57% said last September they believed the US would “definitely or probably” send troops if China invaded, this fell to 40% in March. The US policy of strategic ambiguity leaves it unclear whether the US would intervene militarily. Pelosi said during her visit that she wants to help the island defend itself. Outside of government efforts, some citizens have been inspired to do more on their own. Last week, the founder of Taiwanese chipmaker United Microelectronics, Robert Tsao, announced he would donate 1 billion New Taiwan dollars ($32.8 million) to fund the training of a 3 million-strong civilian defense force. More than 1,000 people attended civil defense lectures with Open Knowledge Taiwan, according to TH Schee, a technology entrepreneur who lectures and runs civil defense courses with the volunteer group, which aims to make specialized knowledge accessible to the public. Others have signed up for first-aid training and some for firearms courses, albeit with air guns, as Taiwan’s laws do not allow for widespread gun ownership. Those efforts need government coordination, said Martin Yang, a spokesman for the Taiwan Military and Police Tactical Research and Development Association, a group of former police officers and soldiers interested in Taiwan’s defense. “The political sector has this idea and is using its energy, but I think the government needs to come out and coordinate it so that the energy is not wasted,” he said. Young is critical of the government’s civil defense exercises, citing annual drills in which civilians practice sheltering. “When you do this exercise, you want to think that people are going to hide in the subway, they need water and food and they may have medical needs. You’ll probably have hundreds or thousands of people hiding there,” Yang said. “But where do the water and food come from?” In July, the New Taipei City government held a large-scale exercise with disaster agencies and the Ministry of Defense. Civil warfare was included for the first time, such as how first responders would react to an attack on a train station or port. The exercises had the feel of a carnival rather than serious preparation for an invasion. An MC excitedly welcomed the guests as Korean pop music played. Recruiters for the Army, Coast Guard and Military Police set up booths to entice visitors, offering key chains such as grenade key chains. Chang Chia-rong guided the VIP guests to their seats. The 20-year-old expressed her willingness to defend Taiwan, although she had not felt too worried about a Chinese invasion. “If there is a volunteer group, I hope I can join and defend my country,” he said. “If there is a need, I would be very willing to participate.”
