Civil defense NGO Kuma Academy concludes 9-day march with rally

Taipei, Dec. 8 (CNA) Taiwanese promoting civil defense awareness and national unity in the face of the threat of a Chinese invasion rallied in Taiwan's capital city on Sunday, marking the end of a nine-day relay march from Kaohsiung to Taipei.

Organized by the Kuma Civil Defense Education Association, also known as the Kuma Academy, more than 50 groups of activists took turns to complete 52 stages of the "Stand Up as Taiwan" march across 13 cities and counties.

After gathering at Liberty Square in Taipei's Zhongzheng District on Sunday, hundreds of supporters held banners and listened to speeches at Taipei's Huashan 1914 Creative Park, the final stop of the 380-kilometer journey that largely followed Provincial Highway 1 along western Taiwan.

"Taiwan is Taiwan for Taiwanese people," said businessman Robert Tsao (曹興誠), the organization's main financier, adding that a CCP (Chinese Communist Party)-led invasion of Taiwan would be "a crime against civilization."

"If you identify with the People's Republic of China, then please go back, and stop messing around and causing trouble in Taiwan," Tsao told the crowd.

Also speaking at the rally, Kuma Academy co-founder and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Puma Shen (沈伯洋) said "many internal traitors" in Taiwan want to "destroy the democratic system and bring China in to destroy Taiwan."

Established in 2021, the Kuma Civil Defense Education Association aims to "prepare a pre-war mentality for civilians" and "cultivate a self-defense capability and the will to defend Taiwan," according to the group's website.

In October, Shen and Tsao were accused by Beijing of being "die-hard Taiwan independence separatists" -- a crime potentially punishable by death according to court guidelines published by China in June.