The Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP) yesterday slammed the annual Wanan air defense exercise as “just for show,” saying that only meaningful exercises would help increase the public’s survivability against the threat posed by China.
The party said that based on videos of the drill the party had recorded, there were multiple failings, such as using the National Police Agency’s mobile app, but ultimately failing to find a shelter.
All the presidential candidates and the Ministry of National Defense have said that the exercise should not be faked, yet the TSP found, after making videos of the exercises nationwide, that participants had failed to reach even the lowest standards in terms of performance, TSP Taipei chapter director Wu Hsin-tai (吳欣岱) said.
Photo: CNA
The government claims that there are more than 100,000 air raid shelters nationwide, but most of them are inaccessible, she said.
TSP Chairman Wang Hsing-huan (王興煥) said the party’s call for the government to emphasize the realism of the Wanan exercise has gone unheeded and they could hardly be called “preparation for war.”
He said how people in high-risk areas should be evacuated has also been passed over.
How organizations with first aid, gas masks and other materials should mobilize, as well as civil defense groups, were also not touched upon, he added.
Compared with Japan’s Yonaguni Island, which has started building shelters that could withstand missile strikes, Taiwan’s “shelters” are mostly the basements of apartment buildings and would be insufficient, Wang said.
He said that Taiwan must reinforce three mindsets — that China is the enemy, that war is not as distant as believed, and that people should sacrifice some of their freedoms and rights and cooperate with the government’s mobilization efforts.
He was critical of the government’s belief that such exercises would “disturb people” and said it was a petty excuse, as 19.2 percent of Taiwanese have said they are willing to mobilize to resist a Chinese invasion.
Wang also cited civilian defense classes held by the Kuma Academy, a non-profit organization focused on civil defense topics such as first aid and media literacy, which have been fully booked with a significant waiting list.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner