As Free China fixes its eyes on Ukraine’s defiant stand against Russia, it’s learning the lesson that to resist a larger foe bent on conquest, civilians need training, weapons, and leadership to do their bit.

The Taiwan Policy Act has sailed through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, aiming to help the democracy maintain its freedoms by bolstering all aspects of its defense. 

“On paper,” writes the Associated Press, “2.3 million reservists enable Taiwan to match China’s 2 million-strong military.” Wars, though, are not fought on paper, and like America’s early militia, Free China’s might not be up to the task.

Author and retired U.S. Army intelligence officer S.W. O’Connell told me, “Properly equipped and led, civilian militia can do okay and sometimes shine,” as they did in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. “The problem where they cut and ran was poor leadership and equipment.”

That’s the state of civilians in the Republic of China. According to the AP, their weaknesses are “chiefly in two areas: its reserves and civilian defense force,” such as in one training session cited by AP featuring 200 reservists per instructor.

Fortunately, Taipei recognizes the problem. In January, it revamped its reserves into the All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency, doubling training to two weeks and expanding the force.

Singaporean businessman Robert Tsao has also donated $32.8 million to train three million civilians. The threat from Communist China is growing, he said, according to Agence France-Presse, and it’s a fight “for freedom against slavery, democracy against authoritarianism…

“If we can successfully resist China’s ambitions, we not only will be able to safeguard our homeland but make a big contribution to the world situation and the development of civilization.”

Further expanding the pool of fingers for triggers, a TVBS News Network poll found that 56 percent of voters support expanding mandatory military training to women, an idea championed by a Taipei City Councilor, Hsu Chiao-hsin.

Ms. Hsu is willing to undergo training, and given that women already serve in the island’s military, the expansion of the draft seems a natural step forward.

In addition to the way Ukraine and early America mobilized civilians, Taipei can also look to Switzerland’s all-reserve system, one “excellently equipped and trained,” Mr. O’Connell says, “and fielding first-line weapons.”

While Beijing’s military is far stronger, the island of Taiwan — as well as the 1,300-mile strait between them — offers a formidable position similar to that of Great Britain in World War II.

The English Channel is but 21 miles across at its narrowest, but the logistics required to cross it and keep the invading force supplied deterred Nazi Germany’s Operation Sea Lion. Plus, traditional military metrics give a 3 to 1 advantage to the defender.

Communist China would not be able to deploy all its manpower any more than the Third Reich, and a military buildup would be visible well in advance of an invasion. This lead time would be crucial for a call to battle stations, one that civilians will answer if trained in advance to do so.

As a member of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, Wang Ting-yu, told the AP, “In Ukraine, if in the first three days of the war it had fallen apart, no matter how strong your military is, you wouldn’t have been able to fight the war.”

He added, “A resilient society can meet this challenge. So that when you are met with disasters and war, you will not fall apart.” Such resolve, well armed and commanded, may make Beijing think twice about trying to seize the island they’ve never governed but claim as theirs.

In the Revolutionary War and 1812-14, Americans managed to defeat the superpower of their day, winning and later defending independence, led by stellar generals such as George Washington at Trenton and Andrew Jackson at New Orleans.

The Star-Spangled Banner yet waves because we had a civilian militia trained, armed, and ready to answer the call of duty. It’s up to the leaders of Free China to build a similar force to deter Beijing and retain their liberties, as the first Americans did theirs and Ukrainians are doing today.