- Frances Mao
- BBC correspondent
image source,EPA
Cao Xingcheng, 75, said he wanted Taiwanese to realize that a threat was coming.
In September, Robert Tsao, a Taipei billionaire retired from the tech world, called the island’s media for a press conference. With white hair and eyes, he said he would spend 1 billion Taiwan dollars (£28 million, $32 million) to build a civilian army.
Cao Xingcheng, wearing body armor and a business shirt, declared that he wanted to help his fellow citizens resist China.
His goal is to produce 3 million civilian “fighters” within three years, one-seventh of Taiwan’s population. Office workers, students, shopkeepers, parents can all learn to handle a gun; he wants 300,000 sharpshooters.
He admits the task is daunting, but firmly believes he can do it.
He waved a photo of his new Taiwanese ID card, which he reapplied for after giving up his Singaporean passport. He said he was not trying to run away. He is not afraid.
“I think as long as people are in Taiwan, they will be willing to defend their country. They are not afraid of Chinese military aggression,” Cao Xingcheng told the BBC a few weeks later.
image source,EPA
Cao Xingcheng holds his new Taiwan ID card.
Born in mainland China but raised in Taiwan, Cao Xingcheng founded United Microelectronics Corp, a semiconductor company, and made his fortune in an industry that now makes Taiwan famous around the world.
As a businessman, he has a lot of business in China. He is also an avid history student, and has been a high-profile voice in policy debates for decades. In 2007, he advocated a referendum on reunification with the mainland.
But he now, like a growing number of Taiwanese, sees the need to prepare for a possible invasion.
Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is about to enter his third term, something that has not happened since Mao Zedong, the founding chairman of the Communist Party, came to power. Achieving what Xi Jinping has called his goal of “unification” with Taiwan would end his legacy.
His decade in power saw the modernization and enormous expansion of China’s military capabilities. The People’s Liberation Army has increased its activities around the Taiwan Strait.
For decades, Taiwanese people have become accustomed to the intimidation of force by mainland China.
But Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong in 2019 shattered some self-comfort. Pro-China voices have long used “one country, two systems” in Hong Kong as a template for Taiwan’s reunification with China, believing that it would preserve democracy.
Cao Xingcheng said that this year has sounded the alarm again. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reverberated in Taiwan.
image source,Getty Images
More and more Taiwanese are getting firearms training.
Cross-strait tensions reached their highest level in decades when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August.
China responded with force exercises. It’s not just about intimidation; analysts say Beijing has rehearsed specifically how to attack Taiwan.
More than 100 aircraft, 10 destroyers and support ships have been operating around Taiwan for more than a week. China dispatched submarines and aircraft carriers and fired dozens of missiles.
For Cao Xingcheng, this was a turning point. He has begun to view the ruling Chinese Communist Party as “the mafia, a criminal group masquerading as the state government”.
“I want to show my commitment…I will encourage a lot of people, and other business people or leaders who might come after me.”
The billionaire has also pledged to invest in the development of military drones, which are crucial to Taiwan’s “porcupine” defense strategy.
Taiwan’s defense budget is 2% of GDP. The US has sold arms worth $23bn (£21bn) to Taiwan since 2010, of which $6bn has been sold since 2020 alone. But China spends at least 15 times that amount. Beijing commands the world’s largest navy, and the People’s Liberation Army has more than 2 million soldiers and more than 500,000 reserve soldiers.
Therefore, Taiwan is focusing on asymmetric defense.
“Today’s war, like what we saw in Ukraine, is not about the number of soldiers or tanks. It’s almost a war determined by intelligence,” Cao Xingcheng said.
The war also requires tenacity and will to fight. Taiwan’s military has been shrinking since the 1990s, and the government has over the years reduced the mandatory service period from two years to four months. There is a lively debate in society over whether to extend the term of service. Opinion polls show majority support, the first time such a situation has occurred in decades.
After Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, Cao Xingcheng asked around and found Kuma Academy, a civilian defense training institution established in 2021. Cao Xingcheng vowed to expand the scale.
“Cao Xingcheng is not alone. He is a mirror that reflects our society and our current situation,” said Wang Dingyu, a Taiwanese legislator and member of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Taiwanese are eager to learn. They even flew to the U.S. territory of Guam, where they practiced shooting with real guns, given the strict local gun laws.
These are “hot businesses,” Wang Tingyu said. “Especially among the younger generation, they are eager to learn how to protect our country.”
Claire Lee, 27, describes herself as a patriot willing to stay and defend her homeland. But she doesn’t think a threat from China is imminent and says she will receive training from Cao Xingcheng.
“Everyone said, wow, he has the guts. We didn’t expect anyone to do that and give a lot of money. In Taiwan, most of the rich and powerful people, other billionaires, are very pro-China, Support business.”
“So everyone’s talking. But I haven’t heard of anyone actually doing it, and I don’t think I’m going to do it either.”
“Until a gun is pointed in your face,” she said, people don’t want to think about the worst.
image source,PLA
After Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China deployed warplanes and naval vessels around Taiwan.
“Most people say we don’t want to go to war, we don’t want reunification (with China) or forced independence. We just want to get on with our lives,” she said.
But she conceded that things were changing much faster than expected. She is now “pretty certain” that Taiwan’s status can be resolved in her lifetime, most likely through war.
Despite the ambiguity of official U.S. policy, U.S. President Joe Biden has said several times that U.S. troops will help Taiwan defend against attacks from mainland China.
But Cao Xingcheng said that Taiwanese need to save themselves.
“My job is to give Taiwanese people confidence in themselves,” he said. “In Chinese, I’m the brick in ‘Throwing a Brick to attract jade’.”
Cao Xingcheng sees his huge donation as a humble brick.
The jade he wants has a greater value – the fighting spirit of the Taiwanese.