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A recent video from The Guardian features interviews with several civil defense activists in Taiwan who want to better prepare their people for an invasion. But, Taiwan’s government officials clearly need to get over their fear of armed civilians for this to do the most good.

Let’s first take a look at the video (article continues afterward):

While the country’s government doesn’t allow civilians to possess firearms, there are some very committed people trying to do as much as they can with what they can get. The video shows a group of citizens working with airsoft rifles doing drills, which would definitely help them learn about sight acquisition and basic marksmanship. The event’s organizer is very clear about who might be at the business end of any guns the group might later receive: China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), or “anyone else that is endangering the civil rights.”

Kuo Chiu, aka “KC” lives in Taichung, around half way down the island’s western plains. The name of the city literally means “Taiwan Middle”, as opposed to Taiwan North (Taipei) or Taiwan South (Tainan). These three cities, along with all of the others between them, would face the brunt of a Chinese invasion.

This story goes all the way back to 1949, when the communists won the civil war and took control of the Chinese mainland. Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan and intended for years to retake the mainland. While Americans support Chiang over the communists, it wasn’t because he upheld western values like democracy or limited government.

This began decades of brutal military dictatorship (known as the White Terror) on the island that sometimes included mass killings like the 228 Incident. Native Taiwanese (who had been there for hundreds of years) and Taiwanese aboriginals (who had been there since at least the last ice age) were treated poorly compared to those who fled from the mainland.

Without a second civil war, Taiwan’s people managed to successfully push for governmental reforms after Chiang died. The military dictatorship ended, multiparty rule began, and the military was transferred from Chiang’s party’s control to neutral civilian control. Most civil rights were strengthened and restored. But, one aspect of the military dictatorship remains: strict gun control laws.

But, given how hard it was to peacefully regain freedom, Taiwan’s citizens aren’t about to just sit there and let Xi Jinping come in and take their freedom away again.

KC is a professor of urban design at the local university, so you might think he’s the last person who might lead a militia training effort, but he tells The Guardian that his knowledge of the built environment in Taiwan led him to think about how important armed civilians might be in the future if fighting happened in the country’s dense urbanized environment (with 25 million people in habitable zones smaller than many U.S. states).

“So, if any invaders come in, if the civilians are trained for urban warfare the invaders will get into serious problems,” he said, referring to the possible use of snipers and RPGs from various building heights. He started with his original basic military training and then sought out professional help to make even better plans for not only fighting, but other vital skills like first aid.

One thing that really brought his attention to the problem was the invasion of Ukraine. Seeing that country fight off a much larger foe inspired him to seek out ways Taiwan might do something similar.

While many are doing medical training for the first time, airsoft and paintball have been popular for decades. Only now, instead of just playing, experienced instructors are working with civilians to give them legitimate training in rifle, pistol, and transitions. Nobody expects to achieve “tier one” skills like instructors with actual weapons do, but they do expect to at least be able to help protect their local communities.

What’s still unclear is how a wider mobilization would work out in Taiwan. Many of these patriotic citizens are more prepared to fight than ever, but the government still has no plans to distribute weapons beyond those called up for reserve duty, which would be a relatively small percentage of the overall population.

It’s pretty clear that Taiwan needs to relax their weapons laws at least some, even if they aren’t going to go for unrestricted carry or even “shall issue.” Allowing people to get training, go through some kind of background check and then get a permit to keep a rifle and ammo on hand for emergencies would be a big improvement over what they’re doing today.

At least some people in Taiwan aren’t going to wait for permission, though. At least one man has been caught building FGC-9 3D-printed guns (link to story here, use your browser to translate into English). According to one investigitator: “(The suspect) does not have a background in science and engineering. He is a forklift driver. He has been trying to learn related 3D-printing technologies online since September last year.”

If one person has been caught, hundreds if not thousands more are probably doing a better job of hiding it. So, if China were to invade, the communist bandits might find themselves haunted by the ghost of JStark1809 in much the same way as the military Junta in Burma.

 

 

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71 COMMENTS

  1. 10/7 taught us the lesson we already knew. When you need a battle rifle, armies are hours away.

    • Seems like a good rifle to hand out to citizens would be a nice suppressed bolt action 300 Blackout with 20 rounds of subsonic/super each. Since Taiwan isn’t likely to beat China through attrition due to the numbers superiority of China you can at least hopefully make their occupation as unbearable as possible.

      Of coarse China could always go full on Nazi and kill 100 citizens for every sniper shot but that would get pretty messy global opinion wise.

  2. I’ve handled Airsoft weapons. I’m not real impressed with them, of course, but they are quite useful. My youngest son is, or at least was, an Airsoft nut. He has no military background, but, he does have a pretty good grasp of small unit tactics. Airsoft didn’t make him a good shot with the real thing, but he put in the hours, days, and weeks to become a good shot with pistols, rifles, and shotguns. I’ll repeat, he has no military service behind him, but he’s better equipped for the day SHTF than 90% or more of the mindless boobies you meet in WalMart, or wherever. I have to recommend those Airsoft larping games. If that’s the only preparation you get for SHTF, that puts you way out ahead of the average street tough.

    • Muzzle awareness, trigger finger discipline, sight alignment, sight picture, shoot, move & communicate, MENTAL ATITUDE – you have to start somewhere. Your son is way ahead of 99% of do nothings.

    • I agree.
      Paintball was just getting popular when I was in my late teens/early 20s. The paintballs would break skin and cause bleeding if you wore a tee shirt and got hit at a distance <30".
      There's lessons to be learned by getting dropped off in an upstate NY forest (a few times during rainstorms) with ~12 team members, being shown a flag to defend, and getting a hand gesture in the direction of the oppositions flag.

  3. Taiwan is doomed if Xi decides to take it. They’ve assumed America would prevent that for decades but at this point I wouldn’t expect anything more than a strongly worded letter from the Biden administration.

    Unless of course they’ve been laundering the Bidens’ money too.

    • My eldest son was big into paintball. Then again he is a combat veteran & works at DoD. His wife won’t “let” him have real gunz to protect my granddaughters. No I don’t “think” slow Joe will go to war for Taiwan. Unless they’ve bribed him🙄

        • He got “woke”in the army mule. Happily oblivious. Meanwhile dad has a near perfect wife who appreciates my efforts & participates in home & away defense.

        • @fww,

          “Near perfect” because, of course, only one woman can be perfect, and I already haz her as my wife. 🙂

      • You need to sit the boy down for a dad/man to talk. Starts with “you chose poorly” and “need to grow a pair”. Probably too late though.

        No troop becomes woke in the Army by the prog swampies if he has been properly raised (by a FATHER/was YOUR job). That BS is aimed at the urban hive dwelling recruit dimwits. It is not gaining all that much traction though.

      • I hate to sound like a hard arse, but I’d tell her not to let the door hit her in the arse on the way out. I had a neighbor who had a wife like that. It took me about a month and 4-5 one on one conversation and not only had I gotten her to reverse her stance on firearms, she now carries everyday! I’ve always said if we can just get people who know and understand firearms to sit down and discuss them with people, without any BS from the media or social media, then we could change hearts and minds. In this day and age, having a firearm isn’t even an option in my opinion. Just about everyone needs to have one for personal defense. There is but one thing that makes a 100 lb female equal to a 250 lb male, and that’s a gun. I have little tolerance for ignorance, and it sounds like that daughter in law is slap full of ignorance. Reminds me of a cousin of mine. She grew up the daughter of one of the most dedicated hunters I’ve ever known. My uncle has gone as far as to get in the stand at 2:30-3:00AM so that there were no disturbances to spook the buck he was after. And with his dedication, there was rare a buck that got away from him that he chose to hunt. He’s turning 80 this year, and his health has been in decline the last two years. Open heart surgery, replacement hip, several teeth had to be replaced. He was on a walker from the hip this season. Anyway, point is that he had two daughters. One who married a guy in NC and has two sons that hunt all the time. The other married a loser from I don’t know where but he was foreign, moved to CA and became a dam ultra liberal. She even taught at Berkeley of all places. Anyway, she and her loser husband won’t let their son even take a picture with people holding guns. (whom she is now divorced from as he had found himself a little 24 year old girlfriend in the adjoining state where, come to find out, he had an apartment and was living with her when he was “out of town” for work) Now she’s moving back home to NC at the end of 2024 as she can retire from her professor’s job with full benefits after this year. I hope she reverts back to a person of reason, though I have my doubts.

        • Thanks for the “advice”. I don’t interfere at all. The other year I brought guns up & his wife gave him “the look”. He still blames me for leaving his mother. Oh wait she kicked me out. He now realizes how awful she was. Funny but his mother is Pro-gun & Trump. Sit my combat vet son down?!? LOL 😀

    • America won’t fight China.
      Besides if China really wants Taiwan they dont have to take it by force they’ll just let a bug do the dirty work.
      Achoooooo cough cough gag Ahhh plop

    • Thankfully, you’re wrong. At least for the next five years.

      Taiwan makes most of the world’s finished semiconductors and almost 80% of “the good stuff” – CPUs and GPUs used in high end computing. >Without that stuff the global economy hard crashes.< That includes China's economy by the way.

      The big chip plants have tech staff that contain a lot of ex-pats from the US, Canada and Western Europe. The instant China gets froggy those guys will bail, they're not big on working in Chinese labor camps at gunpoint. That's when the global economy takes a huge shit all over itself.

      To prevent that, the US, South Korea and Japan are dead set on stopping any Chinese invasion attempt. I think they can do it. I think China knows it too.

      The only reason China would try is if their economy tanks so hard Xi needs a distraction to boost nationalism. Same as the Argentina generals needed a distraction so they picked a fight with Maggie Thatcher which was a spectacularly bad idea.

      Xi trying to eat Taiwan would be even stupider.

      • The prevailing attitude in the spring of 1914 was that the world and Europe had become so intertwined with trade that a greater European conflagration wasn’t possible. All parties simply had too much to lose. Germany had the best army but their navy was no match to the British. They didn’t have the supplies to fight a protracted war, they didn’t have the navy to resupply. Yet they gambled on the Schlieffen Plan, lost, and almost won the war anyway. 20 million people died.

  4. This is a fake story. All of the right wing youth in Taiwan support reunification with the mainland. “Democracy” means gay pride parades, making your kids trans, women’s rights, feminism, and endless war.

    While the PRC is still ostensibly “communist,” it really is a technocratic version of the USA. I.e., a one-party state run by scientists and engineers instead of lawyers. Have you seen what Wuhan looks like? It’s like a futurist moon base! New trains and skyscrapers!

    Democracy is a lie anyway. We have democracy in the US, but the 2020 election was stolen and peaceful J6 demonstrators are being held without trial being tortured. What’s the point of owning an AR15 when the schools are trying to make your son gay?

    • truth or consequences…Women’s rights yada, yada, yada. Which group do you want to put on the trains first mr. butthead? News for you…You are what you claim to disdain.

    • We have democracy in America?
      Funny, I thought America was a Constitutional Representative Republic.
      I guess the Founding Fathers definition of democracy being “two wolves and a sheep deciding what’s for dinner” is all wrong.

    • Lol.

      China is catastrophically screwed. The “one child” policy means the ratio of workers to retirees is going to be worse than one to one in the near future. They’re looking at a complete and utter economic collapse within the next 10 years. Remember when now killed all those songbirds and caused a famine (one of several he was responsible for)?

      “One child” is going to cause much more chaos than that.

      There ain’t no way in hell anybody smart in Taiwan wants to mix their future to China’s. They don’t have a future, at least not a good one.

  5. If Taiwan isn’t prepared to allow their citizens to protect themselves then they don’t deserve to survive. Let the communists on the mainland consume them for all I care. No loss.

    • Word. I am not, repeat, not lifting a hand to defend a country that wants me disarmed.

      The replacement .gov may not be as bad. It couldn’t be worse.

      • There’s no choice about it. Taiwan is where all the chips come from. No chips, no global economy.

        There are efforts underway to ramp up chip making outside of Taiwan so that we can ignore them if we want to. But that’s at least five years off and probably closer to ten. Until then, we cannot allow China to eat Taiwan if we want modern computers. And trust me, we do.

        • “Taiwan is where all the chips come from.”

          Incorrect. I believe their output is around 60 percentage of the global market.

          What Taiwan does produce, is the vast majority of the most advanced chips, thanks to companies like TSMC…

      • I tend to agree with neiowa on this. One may argue about politics being local, but consequences are becoming increasingly global.

  6. They should become more like Switzerland (before they bowed to the EU’s crap) and have universal conscription and allow guys to keep rifles at home. The lefty government they currently have isn’t likely going to go along with that, but we can hope. South Korea has universal conscription but no guns allowed, and Tito’s Yugoslavia used to require heads of household to keep a Mauser or SKS at home, but that didn’t work out so well when the different denominations started fighting.

  7. “While the country’s government doesn’t allow civilians to possess firearms,…”

    Taiwan is fvcked. Even if the citizens were ‘allowed’ to own firearms, detailed records would be kept on who owns what, so confiscation would be easy.

    Since the vast percentage of the world’s supply of pharmaceutical precursors (chemical ‘building blocks’) come from China, if the world imposed Russian-style invasion sanctions on China, China would simply say “No soup for you” and key drugs won’t get made…

    • Ain’t globalisation great?

      A nation concerned for the welfare of its citizenry would want to keep the manufacturing of key items within its own borders or at the very least with close allies.

      I wonder how long it would take for the US to pick up the slack left by an uncooperative China should they refuse to supply us with meds, chips, steel, transformers, semiconductors, etc…

      Money used to matter but since us and China are just printing it all from thin air anyway it has become a non-factor. Rather quickly the only real tool left any nation has to wheel and deal with others is becoming good old-fashioned violence.

      • “Ain’t globalisation great?”

        Chemical technology-wise, the US is working with companies in India and Ireland (and others) to correct that deficiency.

        Rare earth minerals are nearly everywhere, it’s just that refining them is a brutally toxic process. Since China can ignore poisoning the environment, they are the lowest cost place to produce them…

    • If everyone owned at least a rifle and and a pistol then!records of “who owns what” becomes pretty meaningless. Is X person armed? -is he breathing?

      Rifles behind every blade of grass…

  8. Gee, it’s a shame we don’t have two very recent and very clear examples of how a disarmed nation under threat of invasion fares when invaded.

    Oh well.

  9. As we see in the news, ATGM like “Kornet” can be used quite well as shore defense and against any enemy target at surprisingly long range. Reportedly Hamas has learned to deplete the active defense on tanks by launching two weapons simultaneously from different directions whenever an operator makes the mistake of stopping without full cover. Taiwan should stock up on little, medium, and long range missiles, as well as get their heads adjusted and make sure a huge number of Militia have quick access to their weapons and kit as per Swiss model.

  10. If China moves to invade Taiwan, are all those who #IStandWithUkraine going to #IStandWithTaiwan?
    Or are they going to enlist and join in the fight against China?

    • Joe and family gets kickbacks from Ukraine, who do we support? Joe and family gets kickbacks from China, we’d better not let Joe stay in charge or we’re screwed.

  11. A criterion for a nation receiving ANY US aid is that the nation adopts EXACTLY as written the US Bill of Rights. And acknowledge that all ten are individual rights that may not be revoked.

      • Neiowa, would YOU want to read a document that the person handing it to you has already pissed all over?

  12. “Moderation”
    I guess I use the word ,so c ia li st, too much.
    The liberals have NEVER supported the 1st amendment. But they do love their pornography.

  13. Maybe they should import some Norinco brand?
    It’s my concern that if Taiwan gets to many arms, arms are gunms, gunms are made out of steel, steel is heavy. It’s my concern that Taiwan, Taiwan is a small island, I think its 7 miles wide, 12, at its narrowest point, it’s my concern Taiwan will get to heavy, heavy because gunms, gunms are heavy, it will, it will, become so heavy, heavy with gunms, top heavy , it’s my concern it will , being that it’s a small island, I think 7 miles at its narrowest point and would you say 12 miles, 12miles long and 7miles at its, its widest, it’s my concern it will become so top heavy it will capsize.

    • Ok possum, you win the TTAG prize of the day for the best, and best’iest, best overly redundant, best, run on nonsense sentence of the day.

      😁

      • “and best’iest, best overly redundant, best, run on nonsense sentence of the day.”

        It’s not nonsense, it’s a pretty much exact quote on what Georgia representative Hank Johnson actually said a number of years back in a congressional armed services hearing on adding a few thousand more troops on Guam :

    • “It’s my concern that if Taiwan gets to many arms,…made out of steel, steel is heavy. It’s my concern that Taiwan,…will capsize.”

      That sort of penetrating analysis is in very short supply, today.

  14. Every anti-gun woman that I have convinced to come out to shoot changes sides when they can hit the tin can. Now it’s fun.

  15. Oh wait! This is exactly what 2 Dim US Senators have introduced a Bill against. We mustn’t be pro-active.

  16. “One thing that really brought his attention to the problem was the invasion of Ukraine. Seeing that country fight off a much larger foe inspired him to seek out ways Taiwan might do something similar.”

    He’s an idiot. Ukraine is done for. The Russians have overwhelming force but are content to allow the Ukrainians to bleed themselves against Russian defensive lines. That war will be over by end of summer. The Russians have 500,000 new troops trained for months they haven’t even committed to the front yet while the Ukrainians are sending women and cripples to the front with zero training.

    As for Taiwan, the notion that IF the Chinese invade – and China doesn’t want to and most of Taiwan’s citizens agree that peaceful reunification should be done – that a bunch of “citizen soldiers” are going to hold the world’s second largest army is delusional.

    The US wants to use Taiwan against China the way they used Ukraine against Russia. In the latter case, Russia’s economy grew stronger, it’s military is now twice the size it used to be, and they’re grinding out weapons at a rate 2-7 times – depending on weapons system – more than two years ago. But the neocons who control the mentally addled Biden never know when to back down. So they’ll keep pushing China until China has to invade.

    If China does invade, the US will send three or four carrier battle groups to attack China. China will sink them all. China has the largest industrial economy on the planet and can grind out more antiship ballistic missiles than the US has ships – and more antiair missiles than the US has planes. What does Biden – or Trump or any other President – do when 10,000 US sailors are sinking in the Pacific Ocean? Launch nukes? Guess what? China has nukes. So does Russia. Russia has nukes that there is no – ZERO – defense against by the US. And Russia is slowly approaching offering China the same hypersonic technology.

    People who have no clue about the military balance need to shut up about things they know nothing about.

    • “People who have no clue about the military balance need to shut up about things they know nothing about.”

      Agree. “No entangling alliances.” “America First”. “No Convoys.” “No War”. “No death for American Boys.” “Keep the US out of War. Be Neutral.” “War in Europe, Peace in America.” “National Defense at any Expense, Keep our Boys at Home”. “Liberty, War’s First Casualty.” “All Out Aid to Our Allies. “Peace in Our Time.”

      Und So Weiter.

    • Richard Steven Hack,

      You bring up important points.

      I will argue that it ultimately boils down to which side is more ruthless and committed, assuming that both sides have significant (although not necessarily anything close to equal) capabilities.

      Furthermore, in your example where China manufactures more missiles than the number of United States fighter aircraft and navy warships, the United States can do the same thing and eliminate China’s navy and air force as well. Then what happens after both China and the U.S. no longer have a navy and air force? At that point both of us still have the ability to devastate each other’s infrastructure via sabotage as well as cyber warfare and reduce both nations to the Stone Age. Plus that doesn’t even account for the fact that both sides would still have the ability to launch cruise missiles (either from adjacent countries, submarines, or even our own nations) and strike the other side. Then what? And I haven’t even touched upon other possible “scorched Earth” tactics that are possible.

      My previous paragraph has led me to believe that all of the national posturing about military capabilities, invasions, and resistance is political theater.

    • Russia isn’t bleeding the Ukraine of military capabilities, they’re bleeding the U.S. of our own defenses.

  17. The ignorance on this forum is infinite. If the Chinese get control of the air and sea they will invade and no amount of small arms will stop them or even slow them down from taking over in a couple of weeks or even days. Wars are won by heavy firepower including command of the air, sea, and using missiles. The grunts and especially untrained civilians left still alive are simply pushed out of the way and/or rolled over by the tanks.

    The Far Right on this forum are so ignorant of history they do not even know anything about their own history. If it had not been for the professional French Army equipped with up to date sieg cannons with competent field commanders and the professional French Navy George Washington and his incompetent ragtag band of largely untrained and poorly equipped Hillbillies would have been defeated and the totally incompetent Georgie hung by his dirty balls which would have resulted later in the adoption of real democracy and a parliamentary government with multiple political parties. The best tribute we can give to Georgie is to piss on the power mad incompetent bastards grave.

    So much for the ludicrous right wing myth of the “Minute Man” saving the day and winning the revolution. What a farce, what a complete myth and joke. Heavy firepower, well trained French crack troops with up to date equipment and competent commanders won the American Revolution for the Hillbillies. bb

  18. The ignorance on this forum is infinite. If the Chinese get control of the air and sea they will invade and no amount of small arms will stop them or even slow them down from taking over in a couple of weeks or even days. Wars are won by heavy firepower including command of the air, sea, and using missiles. The grunts and especially untrained civilians left still alive are simply pushed out of the way and/or rolled over by the tanks.

    The Far Right on this forum are so ignorant of history they do not even know anything about their own history. If it had not been for the professional French Army equipped with up to date sieg cannons with competent field commanders and the professional French Navy George Washington and his incompetent ragtag band of largely untrained and poorly equipped Hillbillies would have been defeated and the totally incompetent Georgie hung by his dirty balls which would have resulted later in the adoption of real democracy and a parliamentary government with multiple political parties. The best tribute we can give to Georgie is to piss on the power mad incompetent bastards grave.

    So much for the ludicrous right wing myth of the “Minute Man” saving the day and winning the revolution. What a farce, what a complete myth and joke. Heavy firepower, well trained French crack troops with up to date equipment and competent commanders won the American Revolution for the Hillbillies. cc

  19. If China really wants to take Taiwan, who knows what tactics China would employ?

    I personally wonder if China would employ some simple “siege warfare” tactics to great effect, such as blockading the island with their navy to stop all food shipments to the island. Or take-out Taiwan’s electric grid and fresh-water processing facilities. Or do all three. The people on an island won’t last very long without electricity, food, and water (although Taiwan’s climate may somewhat mitigate the damage of disrupting electricity and fresh water processing facilities).

    My opinion: the only way that an island or nation can stop a takeover is if they can turn the tables and inflict MAJOR pain on the Ruling Class that is trying to take over. Just look at the Ukraine–Russia situation. Do you think Russia’s Ruling Class cares how many of their infantry die in battle? Nope. Do you think Russia’s Ruling Class cares how many civilians die in Ukrainian reprisals? Nope. Russia’s Ruling Class will only care if they themselves suffer significantly. So it would be with Taiwan.

  20. 4th attempt to post in 3 days

    The ignorance on this forum is infinite. If the Chinese get control of the air and sea they will invade and no amount of small arms will stop them or even slow them down from taking over in a couple of weeks or even days. Wars are won by heavy firepower including command of the air, sea, and using missiles. The grunts and especially untrained civilians left still alive are simply pushed out of the way and/or rolled over by the tanks.

    The Far Right on this forum are so ignorant of history they do not even know anything about their own history. If it had not been for the professional French Army equipped with up to date sieg cannons with competent field commanders and the professional French Navy George Washington and his incompetent ragtag band of largely untrained and poorly equipped Hillbillies would have been defeated and the totally incompetent Georgie hung by his dirty balls which would have resulted later in the adoption of real democracy and a parliamentary government with multiple political parties. The best tribute we can give to Georgie is to piss on the power mad incompetent bastards grave.

    So much for the ludicrous right wing myth of the “Minute Man” saving the day and winning the revolution. What a farce, what a complete myth and joke. Heavy firepower, well trained French crack troops with up to date equipment and competent commanders won the American Revolution for the Hillbillies. cc

    • dacian, the DUNDERHEAD, while there is some truth (very little) to your comparison between the American Revolution and modern warfare, you fail to realize that the US Navy controls both the sea and the air in the Formosa Straits. I’ll bet you would be tickled pink if America pulled out. Well, Lefty, your Red Chinese allies will not be invading Free China anytime soon, as long as we have a president with a set. Present president excluded of course.

      While Washington did face many obstacles in his leadership, guess who still won the war? And I m sure much to your chagin, America is still free.

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