The Commies are Coming
The other day, as class was about to begin, an air raid siren sounded. Or at least it sounded like an air raid siren. Nothing seemed to happen immediately. I listened for fire engines, or police cars, or other sounds of an emergency response. Nothing came and so I shrugged off the siren sounds as an anomalous foreign noise. Shortly thereafter a small man walked into our classroom, switched off the lights and air conditioning, and walked away without saying a word. I saw him do the same thing in the room across the hall. A girl in the room opposite to us stood up and, with a confused look on her face, turned the lights back on. She was immediately berated by the small man, who returned to turn her lights off and reprimand her insolence.
This piqued my curiosity. Something strange was afoot. When our teacher arrived she placed her fingers over her lips and made a shushing sound. Using a dry-erase marker she wrote ‘Raid Alarm’ on the board. She whispered “no class, twenty minutes, no lights, no air conditioning…Raid Alarm.” Apparently Taiwan holds occasional raid alarms to ensure readiness in case of an attack by the Mainland. During these alarms we turn off the lights and air conditioning and sit quietly in our classrooms. Exactly why we do this I’m not sure. Maybe Taiwan needs all of the available electricity for defense efforts? Perhaps they have some sort of technologically advanced, power thirsty, anti-communist ray gun. As for our need to remain quiet, I suppose it is to inculcate a sense of calmness in the event of attack. If the raid were to ever become reality, having the lay-people trained to sit quietly in darkened rooms would be preferable to having them running about the streets panicking and yelling about the raiding commies.
The occurrence made me giggle. However, it also made me stop and think for a moment. An invasion of Taiwan by Mainland China is, of course, no laughing matter. The People’s Republic takes their perceived territorial integrity and subsequent irredentist claims seriously. The CCP seems resolute about the repatriation of Taiwan. The cross-straits military teeter-totter is increasingly teetering in the favour of the Mainland. One hopes that the growing relations between the two regions help to mitigate the possibility of conflict in the future. The business, familial, and political ties which are being renewed and newly developed between the two regions should be encouraged by both governments involved, and by the international community at large.
One would hope that in the not too distant future it won't be necessary for Taiwan to hold raid alarms. Hopefully Taiwan's current state of international limbo can be sorted out in a way advantageous to all parties involved. In the meantime I guess I have the occasional darkened classroom to look forward to, as a country (for lack of a more appropriate term) prepares itself for the possibility of an invasion or missile attack.