Taiwan looks to Israel as model for national resilience amid growing China threat

Taiwan is adopting Israel as a model in preparing its society, economy, and civilian front for the growing security threat posed by China.

“Beijing uses every possible tool to isolate Taiwan. We are their number one target,” Deputy Foreign Minister Chen Ming-chi told Ynet News in a recent interview. “In the past year alone, we identified 45,000 official Chinese accounts that spread some three million false posts against Taiwan.”

Taiwan produces around 80% of the world’s semiconductors, one of the most crucial and strategic technology components of the 21st century, making a potential military attack by China a global economic and strategic emergency.

For Taiwan, Israel is a “point of deep identification and a source of operational lessons,” according to the Ynet report, which is home to 23 million people. Taiwanese officials say they relate to Israel’s position as a small democracy facing persistent security threats, and they also express admiration for what they describe as the resilience and determination of Israeli society across multiple sectors.

“The military and diplomatic support you receive from the United States and the Western world is far beyond what Taiwan receives,” said a representative of the Straits Exchange Foundation, the body responsible for economic relations with China. “Israel does excellent work in gathering intelligence and fighting the infiltration of spies. That is something we must improve. But beyond that, we see the determination of your people. We need to learn from you how to put disagreements aside.”

Last month, a delegation of Israeli lawmakers visited Taiwan, where they met with President Lai Ching-te as part of an effort to strengthen ties in technology, trade, security, resilience and academic cooperation. The delegation included Knesset Members Mickey Levy, Boaz Toporovsky and Ron Katz from the Yesh Atid party and Yonatan Mishraki from the Shas party.

Levy said the purpose of the visit was “to demonstrate Israel’s close ties with Taiwan, noting that Taiwan was among the first countries to express support for Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.” He also expressed hope of further advancing bilateral cooperation in economic, security and technology.

Meanwhile, daily life in Taiwan appears largely routine on the surface, but extensive preparations for a potential Chinese invasion are underway. More than 100,000 citizens have reportedly already been trained for such scenarios by Kuma Academy, a civil defense organization.

“About 90% of Taiwan’s population does not serve actively in the military,” said Kuma Academy CEO Fuming Chu. “Our role is to prepare them for emergencies without making them paranoid. We teach first aid, rescue, logistics and, critically, how to identify disinformation.”