TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) has dismissed the idea of arming Taiwanese households to defend against a Chinese invasion after U.S. presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said a National Rifle Association (NRA) branch should be opened in Taiwan with guns distributed to every household.
Chen told reporters in Taichung on Monday (April 24) that there was no plan to arm citizens, and the situation in Taiwan and the U.S. is different, per CNA. He was responding to Ramaswamy’s April 15 comments that Taiwan could be protected by giving every family an AR-15, a firearm designed to kill large numbers of people quickly and frequently used in U.S. mass shootings.
Ramaswamy’s advice came after former Trump administration National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said in March that 1 million AK47-armed Taiwanese on “every corner and in every apartment block” would be a fearful deterrent to a Chinese invasion. O’Brien was in Taiwan for meetings with Taiwan’s top political leaders, including President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), in his role as Chair of the Global Taiwan Institute's Task Force on U.S.-Taiwan Relations.
Despite Chen’s opposition to arming Taiwanese citizens, he said negotiations with the U.S. to stockpile weapons in Taiwan were ongoing. It was reported in October 2022 that the U.S. hoped to turn Taiwan into a “massive weapons depot,” a move that would better prepare Taiwan to respond to a Chinese invasion, but also likely further cross-strait tensions.
Academia Formosana is among a small number of groups in Taiwan organizing civil defense and disaster response training, including for armed invasion scenarios. Its founder, who requested Taiwan News use the pseudonym Samuel Morpheus, said Taiwanese are not familiar with firearm use, and it would be positive for citizens to receive training from civil defense groups like this before using guns.
Vivek Ramaswamy has risen in popularity among American conservatives for opposing corporate efforts to advance political, social, and environmental causes but has a low chance of success in the presidential race, per the New York Times.
