TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Rising military pressure from China, along with initiatives from Taiwan’s government, have prompted more civilians to consider how they would respond in the event of a conflict, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
For some, preparation now means keeping a packed go-bag, stockpiling essentials, or learning ham radio to maintain communication if internet access fails. Others are joining newly formed civil-defense groups around the country.
Occupational therapist Lim Siong-hua (林香華), 37, has made preparedness part of her daily routine. Each morning, she arrives at work with a backpack filled with books, water, and survival gear, skipping the elevator to climb 11 flights before descending to her office on the ninth floor.
Lim is training to protect her 3-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son in the event of a conflict with China. She reflects a growing number of civilians actively participating in the government’s resilience programs.
Still, readiness is not yet a universal expectation. Surveys co-designed by University of Nevada political science professor Austin Wang Horng-en (王宏恩) indicate that supporters of President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and his Democratic Progressive Party are more likely to heed calls for personal preparedness, including for natural disasters.
Taiwan’s civil-defense groups vary widely in scale and focus. Some offer advanced training to thousands, while smaller local clubs conduct wargames and survival drills, often preparing for both natural disasters and potential conflicts.
Civilian preparation
In Tainan, a southern city where fighter jets frequently roar overhead, a local group is concentrating on two main projects: upgrading emergency shelters and building a wireless communication network capable of operating if internet access is severed.
Hsieh Chang-ying (謝長穎), a co-founder of the group, said government offices responsible for managing shelters are understaffed and would be overwhelmed during a war. Currently, shelters cover 15.6% of the city’s 1.85 million residents.
Hsieh's team of roughly two dozen volunteers is assembling kits, signage, and guides to enable communities to manage shelters independently until authorities can intervene. The group is also developing a wireless network using Meshtastic, an open-source off-grid messaging system, to maintain communication if subsea cables are cut.
For Lai and his party, Taiwan’s security depends as much on civilian preparation as on the military itself.
The population’s high quality of life and absence of daily dangers can make widespread vigilance difficult to instill, wrote Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific program, and Amanda Hsiao (萧嫣然), director in Eurasia Group's China practice, in a recent progress report on Taiwan’s societal defense resilience.
Political setback
At the same time, a major political setback has given new momentum to parts of Taiwan’s civil-defense movement. Last summer, a months-long campaign to recall more than 30 opposition legislators, accused by organizers of blocking military spending and favoring a softer stance toward Beijing, failed at the ballot box.
Some activists redirected their energy toward resilience initiatives instead, interpreting the defeat as a sign that Taiwan’s legislature might be less assertive toward China.
Their involvement has brought new participants into what was previously a niche civil-defense community largely dominated by male military enthusiasts and survivalists, said Liu Yu-hsi (劉玉晳), a media economics professor at Shih Hsin University and a member of a presidential committee under Taiwan’s whole-of-society resilience project.
Taipei activist Lee Tse-chung redirected his group’s focus to civil-defense training after the recall effort collapsed. Lee, who helped organize one campaign with a core team of about 10 people, said participation has grown to roughly 400, mostly aged 30 to 45, with course registrations filling within hours.
At a recent community-center workshop, dozens of participants took part in a survival simulation created by Lee and other organizers. Split into family groups and guided by a government civil-defense handbook, they worked through scenarios before, during, and after a potential Chinese invasion.
During the exercise, air-raid sirens blared as participants ducked under tables, while organizers simulated electricity and water outages. Some had to decide whether to risk leaving shelter to gather supplies.
Provoking Beijing
Political debates continue to complicate the broader effort. Lai’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) special defense budget faces opposition in the legislature, where the Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party hold a combined majority.
Opposition figures argue that expanding defenses, from US missile systems to martial-arts training for children, could provoke Beijing. Hsieh Chang-ying, however, sees civil-defense initiatives as a signal to China that Taiwan would resist.
“We are assuming that war will definitely happen in 2027,” Hsieh said. The Pentagon assessed last year that China could develop the capability to prevail in a conflict over Taiwan by that year, while a recent US Office of the Director of National Intelligence report states China does not currently plan a military invasion by then.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry has emphasized that Taiwan exists as an equal and separate entity from China, a position recognized internationally and consistently supported by the Taiwanese people.
Surveys show fewer than 8% of Taiwanese favor unification with China, while more than half support either maintaining the status quo or moving toward formal independence, according to the National Chengchi University Election Study Center.