This is actually Taiwan’s best possible defense against China.
but Taiwan would rather fall to China, than let their population be armed.
I have no way to validate this, but a guy at another company that we do business with has family in Taiwan (or Formosa as he prefers to call it), who says that there’s an active discussion about how to a) get a significant civilian reserve trained and b) equipped.
The powers that be certainly don’t want people taking rifles home with them, but the idea of municipal armories, civilian training courses etc. is apparently being discussed at some level, at least among some segments of society. I’ve been trying to find anything in the media about this, and come up bupkis, but I’ve never known this guy to lie before.
Corrupt corporate-owned politicians always make that calculation. Easier to buy off the incoming dictator than risk losing everything in a hot war.