Taiwan conflict: “The situation is dramatic.
But we are used to the threats from China."
Created: 08/04/2022, 16:24
By: Sven Hauberg
A customer and an employee watch a news program about recent tensions between China and Taiwan at a beauty salon in Taipei.
© Chiang Ying-Ying/dpa
The situation hasn't been as serious as it is now for a long time.
Nevertheless, the people of Taiwan are reacting calmly to China's threats - and at the same time are preparing for emergencies.
Munich/Taipei – On Monday last week the sirens wailed in Taipei.
It was a signal to the citizens of Taiwan's capital: Get to safety!
Police officers patrolling the streets ordered people to go to shelters.
Cars were left where they were, people crowded into the subway stations and waited.
After half an hour the spook was over: it was all just an exercise.
"Wan An" - ten thousandfold security - is the name of the civil defense exercise that has been carried out annually in Taiwan since 1978.
The interaction of the different authorities is being rehearsed, and the citizens are also to be prepared for emergencies, participation is obligatory.
The worst case: This is of course an invasion by the soldiers of the People's Republic of China, which sees Taiwan as a "breakaway province" that, if necessary, must be "reunited" with the mainland by force.
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Rarely before has the exercise been so close to reality, even if it was not foreseeable last week whether Nancy Pelosi would really get off the plane in Taipei or not.
But the situation was tense enough as it was: China's fighter jets had penetrated Taiwan's air defense zone dozens of times in the past few months, and Beijing had quickly declared the strait that separates the communist mainland and the democratically governed island to be national waters.
5,771 bomb shelters – in case China invades Taiwan
Pelosi's visit - the Speaker of the US House of Representatives was in Taiwan from Tuesday to Wednesday - may have exacerbated tensions.
But most of the almost 24 million Taiwanese are not really concerned these days, despite threats from Beijing and a military exercise around the island.
"People in Taiwan are very resilient," says Liu Tingting to
Merkur.de
from
IPPEN.MEDIA
.
The journalist from Taipei reports on security and foreign policy for the Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS.
"We are used to the threats from China," she says, but at the same time points out: "The situation has never been as dramatic as it is today."
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In Taipei there are exactly 5,771 air raid shelters, a spokesman for the city administration recently told the Taiwanese news agency CNA.
It could accommodate almost 13 million people - five times as many as Taipei has inhabitants.
In an emergency, an app shows people how to find the nearest bunker.
The threat from the big neighbor is present everywhere in Taiwan.
Still, Liu says, "People's lives are going on as normal even after the Pelosi visit and the latest threats from China.
People go to work and to school.
What are they supposed to do?
Most people say: there is nothing you can do anyway.”
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Not everyone sees it that way.
For example Jack Yao, a coffee wholesaler from Taipei.
The 28-year-old spent three months as a volunteer in Ukraine distributing food and medicine to civilians and fighters and taking part in reconnaissance missions.
According to Yao, Taiwan could one day be "even worse off than Ukraine is now."
In the war zone, he was able to help local people and at the same time train for the Taiwanese emergency.
Taiwan is preparing for China's attack - with reservists and volunteers rehearsing for emergencies
Most Taiwanese, worried about their country's future, don't go as far as the young man from the capital.
Nevertheless, there is a growing willingness in the country to prepare for the worst case scenario.
Because the Ukraine war has already made many people aware that threats can become bitterly serious – that brutal wars of aggression are still being waged in the 21st century.
Taiwan welcomed Nancy Pelosi with a poster in the capital Taipei on Wednesday.
© Chiang Ying-Ying/picture alliance/dpa/AP
Organizations like Forward Alliance therefore offer programs that show people how to protect themselves in an emergency.
Paramedics and firefighters teach participants first aid classes, how to bandage wounds or rescue people trapped by rubble.
"Our job is to teach citizens how to respond in an emergency," Enoch Wu, founder of the Forward Alliance, told news
site Axios
.
“In peacetime, this means civil protection.
In times of war, those same skills form the backbone of civil defense.”
Around a decade ago, the Taiwanese government reduced compulsory military service to just four months for adult males, a course often derided as "summer camps."
After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng suggested an extension that could be decided later this year.
At the same time, reservist training is to be improved.
"If our reservists train seven to 14 days a year, it gives us a lot more confidence," Chen said in March.
The regular armed forces practiced territorial defense during the traditional Han Kuang military maneuvers last week.
Among other things, an attack by the Chinese People's Liberation Army on the west coast of Taiwan was simulated.
"Most liked Pelosi's visit" - despite China's threats to Taiwan
After Pelosi's visit, China began extensive military maneuvers around Taiwan that are expected to continue until Sunday.
According to the Ministry of Defense in Taipei, numerous ballistic missiles were fired into the sea off the island.
It is not yet possible to say whether the People's Republic will escalate the situation further in the next few days, says journalist and defense expert Liu.
She believes that despite the tense situation, people on the island are looking positively at the US politician's short visit.
"A few people worry, they're afraid of the consequences," she says.
"Others say: no matter how great the threats from Beijing, we must strengthen our friendship with the United States and stand behind Pelosi.
Taiwan is a democratic country, opinions differ, but most enjoyed the visit.”
What hardly exists in Taiwan anymore are people who want a quick reunification with China.
In a June poll by Taipei's National Chengchi University, just 1.3 percent of respondents said reunification should happen as soon as possible.
The advocates of independence from China, on the other hand, are growing in number.
And the number of people who see themselves as Taiwanese rather than Chinese is also increasing.
The younger ones in particular have hardly any connection to the mainland.
"It's different with the older ones," says Liu Tingting.
“They still have relatives in China that they remember, and the psychological ties are closer.
But even that is wearing off.”
(sh)