A colorful semiconductor tycoon yesterday unveiled plans to train more than 3 million “civilian warriors” to help defend the nation in the event of a Chinese invasion, donating NT$1 billion (US$32.8 million) of his own money.
Robert Tsao (曹興誠), 75, is one of Taiwan’s most successful businessmen and founded major chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). He has been increasingly outspoken against Beijing, and his pledge came after Chinese troops put on a huge show of force near the nation after US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei last month.
For a week after Pelosi’s visit, China sent warships, missiles and fighter jets into the waters and skies around Taiwan, its largest and most aggressive exercises since the mid-1990s.
Photo: CNA
Tsao warned it would be “an intentional slaughter and vicious war crime and crime against humanity” if China were to use force against Taiwan.
The tycoon said he would put NT$600 million toward training 3 million “black bear warriors” in the next three years, adding that they could work alongside the military.
Another NT$400 million would be used to train 300,000 “marksmen” with shooting skills, he said.
Tsao, who no longer holds any position or title at UMC, said the risk posed by China is existential.
“The Chinese Communist Party’s threat to Taiwan is growing and the fight against [it] stands for freedom against slavery, democracy against authoritarianism and civilized against barbaric,” he said.
“If we can successfully resist China’s ambitions, we not only will be able to safeguard our homeland, but make a big contribution to the world situation and the development of civilization,” he added.
Taiwan has spent decades living alongside China’s threats, but the saber-rattling has become more pronounced under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
China’s most authoritarian leader in a generation, Xi is on the cusp of securing an unprecedented third term later this year and has made gaining Taiwan a key part of his “national rejuvenation” goals.
Taiwan remains massively outgunned, with 88,000 ground forces compared with China’s 1 million troops, the US Department of Defense says.
Mandatory military service for Taiwanese men is just four months, and Taiwanese and US strategists have increasingly pushed Taipei to adopt a “porcupine” strategy of asymmetric warfare, which would include training civilians to fight.
Russia’s stalled invasion of Ukraine has also focused attention in Taiwan on the threats posed by a giant authoritarian neighbor and how huge armies can be resisted by a much smaller, but determined defender.
Tsao yesterday also announced that he had regained Taiwanese citizenship.
Showing an enlarged copy of his Republic of China identification card, Tsao told reporters that he had renounced his Singaporean citizenship, which he obtained in 2011, and was “so excited” to have his original citizenship restored.
From now on, he would stand with his “courageous compatriots” against any invasion by China and ensure that Taiwan remains “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” he said, likening Taiwan to the US.
Additional reporting by CNA
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