An ambitious new plan to expand and improve the role of Taiwan’s military in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief was unveiled on Thursday in Washington by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮).
It called for faster deployment, improved readiness and training and a specially earmarked budget.
The 70-page “Defense Policy Blue Paper,” titled Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, said that “upon a return to government” the DPP would establish an “Asia-Pacific Humanitarian Assistance Platform” to promote disaster response cooperation among nations throughout the region.
The paper, written by the DPP Defense Policy Advisory Committee, also committed to the building of a 10,000-tonne hospital ship to provide off-shore medical assistance and to equipping Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) as a forward base for humanitarian and disaster relief missions.
Wu is in Washington to brief US officials on the results of the elections last Saturday.
While there was no formal US response to the DPP blue paper, Pentagon sources said that it was “warmly received” and that the US always welcomed plans to improve disaster relief.
“Saving lives is a universally cherished value and the ultimate objective of our national defense, as well as the sure path to a lasting peace,” DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wrote in the short introduction to the plan, the party’s eight defense policy paper.
“Humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions further validate the rationale for the existence of our armed forces,” Tsai said.
The blue paper said that Taiwan should take a pragmatic approach and adapt a balanced strategy to respond to both traditional and emerging security threats.
“External threats against the survival of our nation are manifest in the increasing military imbalance across the Taiwan Strait,” it said.
Taiwan does not have the luxury of ignoring high military readiness, while humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions are expensive and complex, it said.
“Our armed forces, conditioned by tight budgets and forced downsizing, must seek innovative approaches in organization, technology and deployment in order to accomplish the mission without affecting readiness and infringing on their authorized responsibilities,” the plan said.
It said that Taiwan could face a future crisis, as the scale of natural disasters worsens as a result of climate change and other factors.
“If the scale of disasters in Taiwan keeps worsening, then the considerable capacities and rapid response capabilities of the armed forces will be key factors in preventing the disaster from escalating into a compound disaster,” the paper said.
Wu, who also serves as the DPP representative to the US, has established high-level links in Washington during his frequent visits over the last year and appears to be building a trust that was missing in the past.
At a news conference on Thursday held in offices near the White House, Wu said this was the first time the DPP had released a Defense Blue Paper in Washington.
Although the recent elections were intense, he said the DPP was determined not to slacken its pace on key issues such as defense, and that he had discussed the new paper with Washington officials.
Wu said that disaster relief has broad implications for regional stability and security.
“Taiwan is peace-loving, but this can’t just be a concept or a thought — there need to be actions to implement and maintain the idea,” he said.
“Disaster relief efforts, especially overseas, should form an important part of our national defense strategy,” he said.
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