Chinese → English transcript

Based on international news and various signs

The war will probably break out within about a month

Will you leave and go abroad?

This question, in my heart

Or rather, the first time I was asked this question

What I thought inside was

The ones who can go abroad are probably the powerful and well-connected

So with my status I would probably be way in the back of the line

So I do not know what the future situation will be

So I chose “I don’t know”

But after we discussed it

Why did I choose “I don’t know”?

What I think is

Wherever my family is

That is where I will be

So my answer is still “I don’t know”

But the reason is different

Right

Okay, this person here

Because I also think you need enough money

To be able to go abroad

It has to be that way

And the reason I am still choosing “I don’t know” now

Is actually that I admit I am a very selfish person

That is okay

Thank you for your honesty

I am very honest

I am very selfish

So I will put staying alive first

And of course I will also

If I have money, I will want to leave

That is it

That is a bit selfish

That is okay

Okay, thank you for your answer

Okay, then I would like to ask

Because just now there were a few people standing over here

Is there anyone who changed their position?

Someone who originally changed their position

So now you

Originally you were

You wanted to go to your grandma’s house

Yes

Right?

No, I still want to go to my grandma’s house

You still want to go to your grandma’s house

Yes, the food Grandma cooks is still better

You really like your grandma

Yeah

No, it is because I just heard that

A friend said they were farming

And I think actually over there in Dapi Township, Yunlin

If everyone has not been there, you can go have a look

It is also a place with very beautiful farm produce and scenery

So you can go there and do something

Yes, because it feels like

I heard people say

That when a war first starts

The cities are probably the most dangerous

So if we go to the countryside first

Hide for a while

And then if the country needs me

Because after all, for men

They will probably still be very short on manpower

Then roughly

From Yunlin

Going back to wherever

However the government assigns us is fine

But first go back to Grandma’s house, okay?

Okay, thank you for your answer

I really like that you are going back to Grandma’s house

I would like to ask over here

Since everyone here voted “No, I won’t leave”

So everyone who came today is willing to stay in Taiwan

Is there anyone who would like to tell everyone

Why you want to stay in Taiwan?

I am Mengru

And it is because I feel Taiwan is my home

I feel it is my territory

I feel I am the people of Taiwan

I was born and raised here

And to me

I feel that I

I can stay in Taiwan and do many things

Whether it is working in health care

Or joining the military

I feel that in Taiwan

it is for my country

that I can keep working hard.

I think this is something

that for me is really

worth it, and

it makes life meaningful.

So I will stay in Taiwan.

That is a very moving answer.

Okay, then

let me ask Chia-hsin.

I have been hearing all day today

this idea of “voting with your feet.”

Honestly, it makes me very sad.

Because I really have many friends

who have already “voted with their feet” and left.

They have already left.

I believe you all see international news,

or say that recently,

including the Financial Times in the U.K.,

it is no longer just the elites who are leaving.

Even the middle class are moving their assets,

all getting ready to leave.

This means that Taiwanese society is starting to feel

the reality of war.

I will also speak very frankly.

I am someone who has the ability to go abroad.

I also have relatives overseas.

If I want to go, I can leave at any time.

But after thinking it over again and again,

I believe I should stay.

Because a friend just mentioned this,

and I am very similar to that friend.

My family is here.

And I also believe that

when this situation happens,

if you calculate it in terms of the risks of victory or defeat,

I think if Taiwanese people unite

and stay together with one heart to resist,

our chances of winning do exist.

I think choosing to leave

is each person’s personal decision.

You can send your family away.

Many people in Ukraine

also sent their families to Europe

or other places,

but they themselves went back to keep fighting.

Or you may leave Taiwan,

but you can still do many things

to help Taiwan in its resistance.

I feel all of these are ways you can contribute.

But some of my friends and I,

after thinking it through, decided to stay.

They also say that their fathers,

although they came from the mainland,

have all their family buried here.

We will not leave and go somewhere else again.

So I think there are emotional reasons

and also rational reasons.

Thank you, Chia-hsin, for your answer.

Okay, now let us go to Yvonne.

Because right now I am in Ukraine,

helping with the revitalization work here,

I have actually heard a great many

of their personal stories,

stories from their daily lives.

And there are really, really, really many people

who all carry a kind of

survivor’s guilt.

When you see them normally,

they are working hard to fund-raise,

or you chat and joke with them,

go out shopping with them.

But when they are drunk,

they will cry,

grab onto your sleeve,

and then tell you,

“Please help my family.”

As for why they do not go back,

there may be many reasons.

It might be that their families will not let them return,

or they feel that by staying here

they can do more.

Which might be just like

some friends mentioned earlier.

Even if you are abroad

and even including myself

I would send my own parents away

because they are actually

very, very afraid of war

I do not think we can condemn anyone

who chooses to leave

because everyone has their own considerations

Maybe they have family members

who cannot take care of themselves

But that does not mean that once they go abroad

they will not do anything

As the war goes on longer and longer

they might be able to see more clearly

and find their own direction and goals

All right, thank you

In fact, our imagination of war

can sometimes be very, very far from reality

When facing the threat of war

if we only fear it

or run away from it, it is useless

The risk of war, in fact, for many years

Taiwan has always been facing the risk of war

When facing the threat of risk

a reasonable approach is to understand it

and then prepare for it

Only then can we, under this threat of war,

keep moving forward

and continue our development

Starting from our desire to preserve our way of life

our so-called true values

and our families

we then raise our own will to resist

and actively make proper preparations for war

This might be, in facing the threat of war,

the best way to respond

The fact that Taiwan faces the possibility of war

is sometimes extremely, extremely frustrating

because sometimes the power to decide

is actually not in our hands

So the only thing we can really do well

may be to get well prepared for war

and to make thorough preparations

So when the country falls into war,

what will I do

is what I want to ask everyone

Are we ready for that?