The Taiwan Affairs Office of China's State Council recently announced penalties against separatists Puma Shen Pao-yang, Robert Tsao Hsing-cheng, and their "Kuma Academy" after receiving numerous tip-offs about the academy from residents across the Taiwan Straits.

Chen Binhua, spokesperson for the office, said in a statement that the Kuma Academy has openly fostered violent "Taiwan independence" secessionists under the guise of training and outdoor activities, with backing from DPP authorities and external forces.

The academy has actively engaged in separatist activities, making it a clear stronghold for "Taiwan independence" elements, Chen noted.

The sanctions have been applauded by people across the Straits, and many netizens on the island of Taiwan commented on social media that they have felt disgusted for the academy for a long time.

What is the "Kuma Academy?" What roles do Shen and Tsao play in it? In this story, the Global Times delves into their wrongdoings and attempts to discredit the Chinese mainland and split China, their connections with the secessionist DPP authorities, as well as possible collusion with anti-China forces in the US.

A camp of separatist forces

Founded in late 2021, the Kuma Academy, or Black Bear Academy, has been a source of controversy on the island of Taiwan.

Claiming to be a grassroots organization aiming to "promote civil defense education to 3 million people within three years," the academy turns out to be a camp of separatist forces that brainwashes Taiwan residents, especially the youth, with anti-China ideology, so as to cultivate violent secessionists, experts on Taiwan studies reached by the Global Times pointed out. 

The academy website shows that it mainly focus on basic first aid and evacuation skills of civilians. But online posts from participants and media coverage of some offline events revealed that the organization focuses more on military, political, and ideological agitation, disseminating misinformation against the Chinese mainland.

The Kuma Academy organized events at universities, which had sparked huge controversy, with critics arguing that it violated the spirit of political neutrality on campus, wrote a university student from New Taipei City, in an opinion piece published by Taiwan-based newspaper the United Daily News in May.

Having personally participated in the academy's workshop in university, the student surnamed Lin said the workshop follows an obvious script. It claims Beijing's reunification actions as malevolent, while perceiving the intervention from the US or other countries as a means to "rescue" the island of Taiwan. 

A DPP-backed political tool 

The Kuma Academy claims, on its website, that its goals "extend[s] beyond any partisanship" on the island of Taiwan, but experts said it is no more than a feeble lie.

"While the academy claims to be a civilian organization, it's actually permeated from beginning to end by the DPP's political agenda under their support," Zhang Wensheng, deputy dean of the Taiwan Research Institute at Xiamen University, told the Global Times.

Shen and Tsao, respectively head and main sponsor of the academy, are typical examples of the deep ties with the DPP.

Available information shows that Shen once studied in the US and, after returning to the island of Taiwan, served as an associate professor at the Graduate School of Criminology at the National Taipei University. Before 2018, Shen's titles primarily included university teaching staff in criminology and columnist, having little to do with the political field. 

However, starting in 2018, Shen suddenly transformed himself into a "cognitive warfare expert," frequently expressing his views on the so-called information campaign and cognitive warfare that he claimed were launched by the Chinese mainland against the island of Taiwan in various settings, aiming to incite antagonistic sentiments across the Straits and aligning his rhetoric with that of the DPP.

Shen quickly acquired many new titles related to organizations affiliated with or influential to the DPP, such as membership on the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee, and directorship of the Central News Agency. Moreover, Shen participated in the initiation of the "Doublethink Lab" in September 2019, which regularly publishes an "influence index" to stigmatize the Chinese mainland. He also collaborated with the DPP legislators in the same year to promote a so-called "Anti-Infiltration Act" targeting Beijing. Through these actions, Shen transformed into a political hitman for the DPP authorities to suppress dissent and demonize the Chinese mainland.

Cao is also a political clown who keeps anti-China slogans on his lips. Cao, founder of a leading semiconductor foundry on the island of Taiwan who used to hold a pro-reunification stance, became a staunch separatist after retirement. Cao reportedly openly opposed the 1992 Consensus, which embodies the one-China principle. 

In 2022, Cao announced a donation of NT$600 million ($18.7 million) to the academy, becoming its main financial backer. He also invested in the DPP-backed secessionist TV drama Zero Day. The drama, depicting a hypothetical conflict in the Straits, is a deliberate attempt to shape public opinion by promoting war fantasies.

In September, the Lai Ching-te administration announced that it would collaborate with institutions including the Kuma Academy so as to train 400,000 citizens in the future. This move has since sparked widespread anger on the island, as former legislator Cheng Li-wen criticized to the media while noting that it is clearly Lai carrying out orders from the US, turning the island of Taiwan into cannon fodder for war.

An agent of US?

Worse still, evidence proves that the Kuma Academy is likely linked to external forces from the US in splitting China and betraying the island of Taiwan.

The presence of the US is faintly visible behind Shen's separatist, anti-China moves and slogans. The US military reportedly first proposed the concept of "cognitive warfare" in 2017, and Shen soon shifted his focus to research this field in 2018. In August 2020, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) invited Shen to share thoughts on how to guard against the so-called "propaganda" from the Chinese mainland. In July 2022, Shen attended the 246th anniversary celebration of American Independence Day held by the AIT.

In March 2023, Shen was invited to attend an online hearing by the US Congress, during which he shared the "experience and suggestion" of the island of Taiwan "countering" the Chinese mainland, Taiwan media sources reported. In October 2023, the AIT openly expressed support to and congratulated Shen for becoming a member of the Steering Committee of the so-called World Movement for Democracy, a subordinate organization hosted by the US' infamous National Endowment for Democracy.

Observing the common tactics used by the US to cultivate "agents" around the world, one notable method includes identifying individuals with a US-related academic history and providing them with support and development opportunities, noted an opinion piece published in December 2023 by Voice of the Strait, a broadcasting company based in East China's Fujian Province.

"A closer examination of Shen's political actions reveals that, each of his step[s] closely [align] with the strategic intentions of the US, which cannot be mere coincidence[s]," it said.