Is Taiwan ruling govt. showing off to the world (or China) how piss-poor its military is?
Last week @MoNDefense organized a so-called "first female reserve training" inviting 60(!) journalists to see 14 female reservists.
For starter: Clear violation of BASIC gun safety rules.
You see this army sergeant (supposedly an active service soldier) not even correcting such horrendous safety violation, something even American boy scouts are trained not to do.
Why? Because Taiwan military rarely taught its troops even basic firearm safety rules. That's why.
Of course you cannot expect the clueless foreign press or those who subscribed to the cult of Taiwan ruling govt to be serious about anything. But what is the policy goal/purpose of this "reserve training" PR clown show if they can't even get the "show" part look half legit?
Oh look! They can do tactical maneuvering! Wait WHAT?
What is it they are supposed to be doing in this picture? Are they using a bunch of Youbikes in an open park as.. *defilade*?
There are so many things wrong with this I am not even sure they are meant to be taken seriously (though Tsai @iingwen govt and its MND want you to, else why would they invited 60 journalists?).
But in case you really need to see, knock yourself out:
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Lai @ChingteLai sworn in as ROC (Taiwan) President on 5/20. What can we learn from his inauguration speech?
For one, Lai explicitly paraded with "Indo-Pac. Security Act" by US Congress, seems he truly believes it means actual US mil. aids to Taiwan, which is an utter fantasy.
Let's make it clear: There will be *zero* "US military aids" (as in "free" freebie) to Taiwan.
Whatever will be delivered would only be those already purchased and paid in full by Taiwan but [promised] deliveries delayed for yrs. This "$1.9b "efense articles" are merely those.
In reality Taiwan purchased and paid for a long list of US weapons (their usefulness being another debate) but the faltering US defense industry (among other reasons) failed to deliver after yrs. For more on this check out @EricGomezAsia's excellent data: cato.org/blog/breaking-…
As a matter of fact, "legislative brawl" is nothing new in Taiwan. Has been going on since day 1 of Taiwan's democracy. All* partisan sides initiated/abused it, usually when in LY minority (this year's case DPP)
I will explain why this came to be a Taiwanese tradition👇
In early years (late 1980s/early 90s) oppositions (e.g. DPP) were minority in the LY. To "counter" KMT majority, some DPP MPs resorted to "physical" oppositions. One of worst early offenders was Ju Gau-jeng, a DPP MP infamous for numerous fighting in the LY.
Why fight club tradition spread? As it turned out, Ju's fighting made him very* popular among wingnut supporters and he got rich from all the attention and donations. This became the default playbook for many TW pols after Ju to gain quick attention and press coverage.
ROC (#Taiwan) President Tsai @iingwen will finish her two-terms on May 20, when @ChingteLai will take over. How do Taiwanese public see Tsai's legacy last 8 years?
This NEW poll by TPOF did a wide ranging survey, check out the report here:
(Thread) tpof.org/wp-content/upl…
Most importantly, at the end of Tsai presidency Taiwan public have divided views on her govt's handling of cross-strait relations, which has seen China's ever escalating military incursions & posture against Taiwan.
A slight majority Taiwanese are also not happy with Tsai's handling of Taiwan's economy, although on this Tsai's 2nd term has improved considerably compared to her 1st term when sentiments were extremely negative.
What do Taiwanese public think about "One China" and so-called "1992 Consensus"?
Latest poll by TPOF finds a strong majority of 67% disagree with the *BASIC* version of OC/92C i.e.
“Taiwan and the mainland belong to one China”.
However there's more to it..
What about Taiwan's opposition party @kuomintang's official position on OC/92C? Namely:
“..One China is the Republic of China (ROC)”
In which case, substantially more Taiwanese agree to it though still opposed by just half of the people.
Finally, there's PRC/CCP's version:
"..One China is the People’s Republic of China (PRC)"
This is overwhelmingly rejected by Taiwanese public and only has single-digit support.
For the full April poll see: tpof.org/wp-content/upl…
It is unfortunate Japan's Nikkei @4946nikkei published some awful *anonymous* "reports" on Taiwan's military & politics making wild but unsubstantiated, illogical allegations.
It claims (anon. source) 90% (!) TW military's retired officers went to China to be recruited as spies.
Even as a noted critic of Taiwan's military, I do not make accusations of Chinese spies within or Q of allegiance lightly as I have not seen evidence they are as widespread as some repeatedly claimed.
TW military is incompetent, but not *infiltrated*. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27….
There have been a number of spies caught over the years for sure. Taiwan and China IC both made some* efforts to recruit from other side no doubt. But considering all things, data point do not support the idea there are PRC spires everywhere in TW military.
If you read Chinese, check out this new book by @FaustoChou, a Taiwan journalist's tell-all of his recent 4-month mil. service in Taiwan "Republic of China" army, a first-hand review of the extreme dysfunction and ineptness of Taiwan's @MoNDefense & govt. play.google.com/books/reader?i…
My favorite part is his army basic training "graduation certificate" listed him as having "failed" the training but still sent him off to field unit anyway. He still doesn't know what part of training he "failed" since there was little serious "test" to speak of. A typo maybe?
Just as I have written before, Taiwan Army doesn't even train soldiers how to zero iron sights on their rifles. Even career, volunteer NCOs/officers who's served years might not have a clue how to do it properly since its not part of any basic training or weapon "certification".