On the same day last week that Beijing was conducting massive military drills around Taiwan, in response to a “provocative” speech by the island’s leader William Lai Ching-te, it also slammed sanctions on a lesser-known organisation.
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Kuma Academy, which encourages the Taiwanese public to prepare for war with the mainland and stand up for the island, was sanctioned on October 14 for “propagating secessionist ideas” and serving as a base for “independence separatist activities”.
Also sanctioned were two prominent academy figures – Puma Shen, one of its founders, and business tycoon Robert Tsao Hsing-cheng, a major donor to the organisation and an outspoken critic of the mainland.
Chen Binhua, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing, said the academy “blatantly cultivated violent pro-independence activists under the cover of educational lectures, training, outdoor drills, and even parent-child activities”.
“[The academy] is openly engaged in separatist activities and is, without a doubt, a Taiwan independence base,” he said. Shen and Tsao were sanctioned for supporting what Beijing perceives as “violent” pro-independence sentiment and activities.
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While the academy denied providing any sort of combat training programmes, observers noted that its goals align with Lai’s ambition for a resilient, whole-of-society approach to streamline Taiwan’s oft-criticised civil defence system.
Drawing on Israel’s swift mobilisation of 360,000 reservists in just 72 hours after last year’s attack by Hamas, as well as the resilience of Ukrainian civilians, Lai has overseen the creation of a special committee to strengthen civil defence on the island.