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This group thinks Taiwan’s people aren’t taking the risk of war with mainland China seriously enough. Their goal is to change that
- The Kuma Academy, which means bear in Japanese, says its focus is on civil defence and preparing people to survive rather than training them to fight
- One of its founder’s says Taiwan is ‘one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints’ but people are not taking the risk seriously enough
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Lawrence Chungin Taipei
A civil training organisation is trying to prepare Taiwanese to prepare for any conflict with the Chinese mainland.
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The group is not a militia, does not teach people how to use guns and dismisses claims that it is advocating war with Beijing. Instead, it says its focus is on teaching people how to survive in the event of conflict and help others.
“Such training is crucial, especially when Taiwan is known as one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints for conflict,” said Puma Shen, co-founder of the Kuma Academy, a name that means bear in Japanese.
Despite the serious threats and warnings from analysts in Taiwan and the United States that a conflict could erupt within a few years, the Taiwanese public’s response has remained mild as most of them do not think a war will happen if the cross-strait status quo remains in place.
Beijing views Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be brought back under its control – by force if necessary.
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“I don’t blame them as no textbooks here teach students of such a risk,” Shen, an expert on disinformation who teaches criminology at National Taipei University said in an interview.
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