Taiwan revives Cold War-era anti-communist military classes
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- Taiwan's defence ministry resumed "anti-communist patriotic education" classes for military academy graduates on July 5, ending a 25-year gap since the formal program was last held under that name before being renamed "patriotic education" in 2002.
- The ministry cited "rising military and infiltration danger from China" as the reason, stating graduates must understand "why we fight, and for whom we fight" and "establish a clear awareness of friend and foe."
- Officials from the Mainland Affairs Council, National Security Council, Ministry of Justice, and government think tank Academia Sinica will deliver lectures to the graduates.
- Joseph Wu, secretary-general of Taiwan's National Security Council, reported that as of Friday Taiwan was tracking a record of more than 110 Chinese military and Coast Guard ships along the first island chain.
- China's Coast Guard launched a new patrol off Taiwan's east coast on Saturday, prompting Taipei to reject Beijing's jurisdiction claim in those waters; China's defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
- China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and its military operates almost daily around the island.
Why it matters: The revival of explicit Cold War-era "anti-communist" language after 25 years marks a deliberate rhetorical hardening of Taiwan's military doctrine, paired with a record 110+ Chinese ships tracked along the first island chain. The shift reframes the threat not just as territorial but as ideological, with civilian agencies from justice to academia now enlisted to drill graduates on friend-versus-foe identification.
