A video emerged in Chinese-language social media posts alongside a claim that it shows Taiwan training female military personnel.
But the claim is false. The video shows a promotional event for an online game, not the Taiwanese army.
The video was shared on Weibo and X on March 2.
“Are these really the female soldiers of Taiwan nowadays? Mini skirts, bras, high heels? … Are you sure they can actually fight in a war?” a X post reads in part.
The one-minute and 21-second video shows a group of women in army uniform participating in what appears to be a military drill.
The claim began to circulate online amid speculation in the Taiwan media that women may be conscripted into the military to fill gaps in combat units. But Taiwan’s defense minister dismissed the speculation.
Taiwan’s armed forces saw a drop in the number of active-duty personnel to 152,885 in June 2024 from 164,884 in 202, with experts saying this is a problem for the island as it is facing mounting threats from one of the world’s largest militaries: China with more than 2 million active-duty personnel.
Higher wages and the recruitment of foreigners are among proposals being discussed to address the manpower shortage in the military.
But the claim made in the video is false.
A Google reverse image search revealed older versions of the same footage, where a distinctive bulletin board appears in the lower right corner around the 32-second mark, displaying the words “Giant Cannon Company.”
A keyword search for “Giant Cannon Company” found that it refers to a mobile game.
Further keyword searches found a promotional video of the game published on YouTube in April 2014.
Part of the video matches the video circulated among Chinese social media users.
“2014-04-10 Giant Cannon Company Launch Press Conference – Yao Yuan-hao + 50 Girls,” reads the caption of the video.
Yao is a Taiwanese actor, who is seen in the video leading a group of women.
Women volunteers do serve in the Taiwan military and AFCL has previously debunked similar claims that they were “overly sweet” and unfit for combat.
Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Taejun Kang.
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