Hi, I'm wanh and this is the big take from Bloomberg. Welcome to our second special report from Taiwan. Taiwanese voters elected a new president over the weekend. History on the streets of the Taiwanese capital tonight, thousands of people are out here listening to the first words of their new president elect, Laichingda and the Vice Lichingda, the country's current vice president, on in an election that's seen as crucial for the future of the island and its relations with China,
its mighty neighbor across the waters. Lai is viewed as a separatist by the mainland and is a fierce defender of Taiwan's sovereignty. He will take office as the prospect of an armed conflict with China becomes more real than ever before. Just days before the election, China launched a satellite over southern Taiwan that prompted the government to issue air raid alert and warnings about possible debris tumbling from
the sky. And last year the island was on edge as Chinese warplanes were sent to sensitive areas around Taiwan. After visits by US and Canadian lawmakers, the tensions come down to this, China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province and has threatened to bring the island under its control by force if necessary. Taiwan has responded to this growing threat by raising the island's military budget, and starting this year, the island's government is expanding its compulsory military service from
four months to a year. While surveys show Taiwanese support the extension of military service, it raises a new threat in the minds of many. The prospect of a war with China is on the rise, and their suns could very likely be on the front lines. Today we hear how two families on the island are responding to that fear in very different ways. Here's Bloomberg's Juan chin Hua reporting in Taipei.
It's a Sunday Saturday in a park in the southern part of Taipei, and thousands of families are here. They're waiting in line in front of tents with boothe underneath looks like a ferries on their way. This kid is complaining about waiting in line for too long, But what are they waiting for? Exactly a stick of cotton candy or right on, a merry go round. Actually, if you walk a little bit closer, you'll realize what's really happening here. It's not as joyful as you might think from far away.
I make that.
What's actually happening here is very intense. The instructors for the events are teaching a group of kids how to prepare for a potential missile attack. Because the purpose of this whole event today isn't calivor rights and games. It's a civil defense fair. Its goal is to help families and especially children, prepare for a potential attack on Taiwan. Instructor is guiding the kids with a loud speaker. You're
brave hiders. When two sides are fighting in the air, you will hear this siren and you will know there's a missile from the enemy coming towards you. In this drill, kids are sitting on a white sheet of fabric and preparing to hide beside stools which are covered in black plastic bags. There are meant to mimic buildings in the city. Most kids look to be around the elementary school age, and one of them is taking this very seriously, not
giggling or moving around like some other kids are. I turned to him and asked for his name and age.
Raymans well Jing and I am Raymond. I am nine years old this year.
The instructor tells Raymond and the other kids exactly how to position their bodies for what would come Next to the instructor is saying, when missiles explode, there will be strong lights, loud noises, and blast waves that will hurt our bodies. We have to take five actions. First, we have to protect our eyes by covering them. Second, we had to cover our ears with our thumbs to prevent damage from loud noises. Next, we open our mouth slightly
to prevent the shock from damaging our internal organs. Raymond follows the instructions to the letter. A couple of minutes later, my producer Young asks him, why do you think we need to practice this?
Yeah, lookt if because if there's an air attack, we can immediately take shelter.
She follows up, where would an air attack come from?
Some go Ho Chi, Tago, China or other countries.
Later on, Raymond tells me more about himself. He's in the fourth grade and he loves arts and crafts. What she haunts on me.
Now, I like to make small models using a three D printer.
As for what he's been up to at the Civil Defense Fair all day. He runs us through the other activities he has done.
Well.
If I went to the Maze, Adventure a Good Helper, find a Shelter, Magical Signpost, Brave Hiders, and the Adventure Valley.
Y'all asks him which one he likes the best.
I like Adventure Valley the most because they gave me a hiking pole.
Raymond has spent his afternoon hopping from booth to booths to learn how to find shelters under attack, how to properly bandage a wound or injury, and how to pack an emergency backpack. At the backpack booth, he was told to bring a hand generator for electricity and a photo of his family in case they got separated. Man Raymond has been collecting stamps for completing each of these training sessions. He's got eight stamps in total now and he's ready to collect his price.
Hells a mon, Thank Emma Way.
Raymond gets a box of cookies, and he doesn't look too excited. He might be disappointed with what he's leaving with, but his mom, who brought him here, feels like we got exactly what she came for.
Raymond and Mama are supreat So I'm Raymond's mother. My name is Grace. This is our first time attending this event. We're here because Raymond never participated in this type of activity, and so I would like him to experience it.
Sounds that San down came.
We watched the.
News together, and the kids know that there are wars outside Taiwan. It's important for him to understand what civil defense is and it's an issue that everybody, both adults and kids, should care about.
Grace is Rayman not only needs to be prepared to hide from the enemy one day, but also to fight them.
Just a pritriochal what you want?
I think he has to do his military service.
Grace thinks doing this service is important for her son. We turn to Raymond and ask, have you ever thought about becoming a soldier?
Mom?
I will do it. Everybody will do it.
Aren't you scared? We ask? He shakes his head. No, Raymond may not be scared, but what about his mom. She's facing the prospect of sending her only child into military service at a time when Taiwan faces an escalating threat from China.
Is your own passion I wouldn't worry. In fact, I want him to do it. I think this experience can help him mature. It's necessary and anyway, one should be able to join the military, whether you're a boy or a girl. As long as you're willing to, you should go for it. Because war affects everybody, so it's everyone's business. After all, we're all Taiwanese. This is our homeland.
Death.
We hear from another Taiwanese family responding to the same threat in a totally different way after the break.
While Raymond's mom, Grace, who we met at the Civil Defense fair, seems to be mentally preparing herself to send her son off to do his military duty less than ten miles away, another mom, Olivia, is responding to the same threat a different way. Okay, this is Olivia. I met her at an immigration agency that helps people get citizenship in foreign countries. Olivia has a son in elementary school, Ted.
When I ran into her at the agency that morning, she was seeking the best strategy for Ted to avoid military service. But you can't just leave Taiwan. There's a penalty for draft dodgers. So Olivia wants to make sure test name never makes it on the list. Yeah.
I see the news about the war in Ukraine and I see people could be enlisted anytime, whether you like it or not. It makes me think about us. I mean, of course, you don't want to send your child to war.
Olivia wants to get Ted an official statf as known as Oversees Taiwanese, and to do this, Ted needs to meet a bunch of requirements. First, he needs to be a permanent resident of somewhere else. Second, he needs to leave Taiwan before the end of the year when he turns fifteen. And then he has to spend less than six months in Taiwan each year until he's thirty seven. There are even more requirements than this, but these are the ones Olivia is focused on. At the moment. This
all sounds like a ton of work. And when I point out to Olivia in the immigration director she's meeting with that Ted is only less than five years away from having to leave Taiwan, they freak out.
I never feel so pressured by time before you bring up this question. Five years is not very long. It's actually very short. It's the end of the year already.
But Olivia tells me they are already on their way. Her family's got citizenship in two countries, Turkey and one African country. She wouldn't give me more details on the African passport, she tells me they just straight up paid for them. As for the Turkish ones, they got them through an investment program called Golden Visa. Basically, to get the passports, Olivia and her husband put half a million US dollars in a Turkish back for a two year
fixed deposit. But they're not stopping here, Olivia tells me they're also going through the process for citizenship for two more countries. She invited me and my producer Young back to her house to hear more. The family lives in a new, luxurious apartment that stands in the heart of type city. We were amazed by how fancy and big the apartment was. It's almost three hundred square meters or over three thousand square feet. This is where we meet
the rest of Olivia's family. Her husband, Oliver, is the CEO of a local tech company, and their son Ted.
What's your name?
Ted? Ted?
Ooh, so, how old are you ten?
So it's fifth grade?
Yeah?
Ted tells me she switched from a local school to an international school about two years ago.
Which one do you like better, the local school or international school?
Oh, why tell me about it.
There's more subjects, and there's less homework and and.
No holidays.
Ted's father, Oliver tells us they've been talking about the idea of leaving Taiwan since Ted was born.
And the first of all is like, I think the risk of war we're facing, you know, military threats from China. I think most of the parents worry about this, worry about us and the future of our children.
In the past few years, they have started taking steps to prepare Ted for life outside of Taiwan. They sent them to summer camps in various countries, shift the schools, and about a year ago he started fencing lessons because his mom tells me fencing is an international sport. Ted what he likes about it holding the.
Sword, It's not very hard, and it's also to get new friends when fencing.
But a new school, new summing camps, and new hobbies aren't the things that will help Ted legally avoid or delay military service. For that, the family need to secure citizenship outside of Taiwan. Olivia tells me. They apply for Turkish passports only because it's fast, easy, and rather cheap for them, so that if things really deteriorate in Taiwan, they at least have somewhere to stay legally. But now they have their side set on other countries that they
think can offer Ted more. For example, Portugal. Here's Olivia again.
Now, since the risk between Taiwan and China, we are considering sending him aboard when he is high school. Then everything's like we are planning but not confirmed.
But it's not just Portugal they're looking at. Australia is also on their list. We asked Ted how much he knows about his parents' plan for him.
Do you know you have Turkish citizenship?
Do you want to live maybe if there's.
Better life in somewhere, like better education and better friends.
No matter where Ted ends up, his family's priority is clear. We want to use whatever they have on him to keep him out of the military and away from the potential risk of fighting a war against China.
We don't want our children suffer from those war. We want to protect them, not to have our kids to protect our country. We would rather to protect our kids.
We call it a knight in the lovely music that takes place for us on his piano. Of course, using your wealth to shield your children from military service and your family from a possible war is a path only available to a very very small number of Taiwanese families. Most families are like Raymonds. They can avoid to leave, and so they're just trying to prepare themselves and their children for the unthinkable, a war with China, even if that remains a remote possibility tea anytime soon.
That's Juan chin Hua from Bloomberg. This episode was produced by Young Young She and Wan chen Hua reported the story. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney, along with m O'Brien and Dan Tien Kate. Sound design and mixing was by Young Young and Alexander Sugura. Blake Maples is our sound engineer. Sage Bauman is the head of Bloomberg Podcast and a huge thanks to our colleagues for their help in making this episode, including Samson, Ellis, Bi Jung, Young, Bonnie Ao, and Angela Wong. See you tomorrow.