The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it would humbly accept criticism over its civil defense handbook and update it on a rolling basis after illustrations of Chinese military uniforms in the publication were criticized.
An administrator of Facebook group “IDF Ching-kuo Fighter” (IDF經國號) on Tuesday, mere hours after the updated All Out Defense Handbook was released, wrote that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) last year replaced older uniforms with its Type-21 family of combat and work uniforms, they said, citing reports from Chinese media.
However, the handbook portrayed the outdated uniforms, the post said.
Photo from the civil defense handbook
The new uniforms do not distinguish between the branches, the post said.
The ministry said the handbook’s “visual guide to enemy forces” in a chapter titled “Identification Friend or Foe” could not use photographs of the uniforms due to copyright concerns issues, adding that it would discuss how illustrations in future editions could better reflect reality.
The handbook shows PLA military in different uniforms according to branch and distinct patterns for summer, winter, jungle and desert.
The guide was to ensure that civilians would be able to distinguish PLA combatants from Taiwanese soldiers, said Lin Chen-kai (林楨凱), who is in charge of material mobilization at the All-out Defense Mobilization Agency.
The book would be updated if Taiwan or China introduces new uniforms, Lin said.
Asked about the similarities of uniforms, Major General Lin Wen-huang (林文皇), who is in charge of operational planning at the ministry, said that soldiers routinely use armbands to facilitate identification.
The color of the bands are rotated regularly to avoid the enemy from using the same color as a ruse, he said.
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