Video shows Taiwanese soldier taking off equipment, not collapsing during presidential visit

Published on April 3, 2025 at 04:15
3 min read
By Carina CHENG, AFP Hong Kong

After Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te toured a military camp in the island's capital on March 21, a video was shared in social media posts that falsely claimed it showed him ignoring a soldier who fainted during his visit. An AFP journalist who covered the event confirmed no one had fainted during the visit, and videos posted by other media from different angles show the soldier was in fact kneeling down to remove equipment.

"When Lai Ching-te inspected military drills on March 21, a soldier fainted suddenly but Lai Ching-te did not care whether he was alive or dead, only about the progress of the exercise," reads simplified Chinese sticker text on a TikTok video posted on March 24, 2025.

The video shows Lai looking at a military vehicle while surrounded by uniformed soldiers. A soldier in the background, partly obscured by the crowd around Lai, appears to drop to the ground just before the president moves on.

Screenshot of the false TikTok post, captured on March 27, 2025

The clip, which was also shared in similar Facebook and Douyin posts, surfaced after Lai visited a military camp in Taipei on March 21 and announced pay rises for some service members in a bid to tackle manpower shortages (archived link).

The announcement came as Taiwan faces intensifying military pressure from Beijing, which claims the democratic island as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.

China regularly deploys fighter jets and warships around the island and has held several major military exercises since Lai took office in May 2024 (archived link).

The circulating clip, however, does not show a soldier fainting and Lai ignoring them.

An AFP journalist who covered Lai's visit confirmed no one had fainted and the soldier highlighted in the clip was in fact kneeling down.

Footage from different angles published by Taiwanese broadcasters show the soldier was kneeling to place a shoulder-mounted weapon on the ground.

Misrepresented footage

A reverse image search followed by a keyword search on Google led to similar footage taken from a different angle by Taiwan's CTi News on March 21 (archived link).

The soldier who was obscured in the false posts can be seen kneeling next to their weapon before rising to their feet as the president moves on.

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and similar footage posted by Taiwan's CTi News (right)

The same soldier can be seen kneeling down at the 1:08-mark of a similar video posted on the verified YouTube channel of the Formosa TV News network (archived link).

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense refuted the claims in a press release on March 25, calling them "completely untrue" (archived link).

"The video shows officers unloading equipment after President Lai's visit to encourage troops and monitor preparedness drills on the 21st. No one fainted at the scene," the ministry said.

The claim was also earlier debunked by the Taiwan FactCheck Centre here (archived link).

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