Kuma Academy ( zh, t=黑熊學院, s=黑熊学院, p=Hēxióng Xuéyuàn), also known as the Black Bear Academy, is a Taiwanese non-profit

civil defense Civil defense or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from human-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency management: Risk management, prevention, mitigation, prepara ...

organization which provides training to civilians on a variety of topics. The goal of the academy is to equip civilians in Taiwan with the basic knowledge and skills of civil defense, so that they can protect themselves in times of war and avoid interfering with the basic operations of Taiwan society, the regular military, and the government as a whole.

Overview

Kuma Academy provides civil defense training to civilians in Taiwan. Classes cover topics like

first aid First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with a medical emergency, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery until medical services arrive. First aid is gener ...

and media literacy to combat disinformation from China. Kuma Academy has also provided training in

open-source intelligence Open source intelligence (OSINT) is the collection and analysis of data gathered from open sources (overt sources and publicly available information) to produce actionable intelligence. OSINT is primarily used in national security, law enforceme ...

and cybersecurity. According to Kuma their goal is "to decentralise civil defence."

History

Dr Puma Shen at Kuma Academy Lecture 24 Feb 2023

Kuma Academy was founded by Puma Shen and Ho Cheng-Hui. Interest in the organization, and civil defense overall, dramatically increased following the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. In September 2022, the Kuma Academy had a waitlist of more than 3,000 for its classes. In 2022, retired businessman

Robert Tsao Tsao Hsing-cheng (; born 24 February 1947), also known by his English name Robert, is a Taiwanese billionaire businessman best known as the founder of United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC). He is a fine arts critic and collector. Early life ...

pledged NTD $600m to Kuma Academy. In October 2024, the government of China's

Taiwan Affairs Office The Taiwan Affairs Office is an administrative agency under the State Council of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It is responsible for cross-strait relations and sets and implements guidelines and policies related to Taiwan, which is cl ...

said that it would

sanction A sanction may be either a permission or a restriction, depending upon context, as the word is an auto-antonym. Examples of sanctions include: Government and law * Sanctions (law), penalties imposed by courts * Economic sanctions, typically a ba ...

and "punish" Tsao and Puma Shen for their support of the academy. In December 2024, the academy organized a nine-day “Stand Up for Taiwan” relay march promoting civil defense which began in Kaohsiung and ended at Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei.

References

External links

* {{Civil defence Non-profit organizations based in Taiwan Civil defense in Taiwan Open-source intelligence Taiwanese entities subject to Chinese sanctions

Overview

History

See also

References

External links