While warning campaigns against mainland China’s “communist bandits” were commonplace during the Cold War, the formal curriculum was dropped in 2002 and watered down to general “patriotic education.” The decision to revive the aggressive training program comes as Taiwan’s defense ministry stresses the urgent need for new officers to “recognize the military mission of why we fight, and for whom we fight,” News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
To build a “clear awareness of friend and foe,” the refreshed curriculum will feature lectures from top-tier national security bodies, including the Mainland Affairs Council, the Ministry of Justice, and Taiwan’s premier government think tank, Academia Sinica.
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The educational pivot aligns with a massive surge in Chinese military activity right on Taiwan’s doorstep. Joseph Wu, secretary-general of Taiwan’s National Security Council, reported that Taiwan tracked a record-breaking armada of more than 110 Chinese military and Coast Guard vessels maneuvering along the first island chain. Wu explicitly labeled the heavy maritime mobilization a clear sign of Beijing’s regional expansionism, arriving just as the Chinese Coast Guard launched provocative new patrols off Taiwan’s eastern coast.
