On June 19, President William Lai (賴清德) announced the establishment of the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee (全社會防衛韌性委員會) at the Presidential Office.
This initiative originates from Lai’s policy of integrating civil and national defense to strengthen Taiwan’s social resilience to natural disasters and growing military threats from China. Although some have criticized the committee as unnecessary symbolism, it can play a proactive role in Taiwan’s civil-military relations.
National and civil defenses are crucial to enhance deterrence against a Chinese invasion. However, a divergence remains between the military and civil society.
The authoritarian era made the military an isolated community detached from Taiwanese society. During the White Terror era, the military was an essential tool for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to defend its autocratic regime. During 38 years of martial law, more than 20,000 people were imprisoned and 5,000 executed, resulting in widespread distrust toward the government and the military.
Democratization ultimately led to the nationalization of the military and imposed restrictions on its law enforcement and judicial powers. However, the military did not become more open as a result.
Bureaucrats in the Ministry of National Defense still frequently cite “lack of professionalism” or “national security concerns” to refuse engagement with civil society.
In the case of army corporal Hung Chung-chiu’s (洪仲丘) death in 2013, the ministry’s passive attitude and evasive response to concerns over military abuse sparked significant pushback from society. Taiwanese men’s experience of compulsory military service — characterized by poor, outdated training and being a waste of time — also contributes to public distrust of the ministry.
Despite military service being one of the least popular career options, many Taiwanese cherish their democracy and freedom, and see civil defense as an alternative way to contribute to defense, such as by participating in training and workshops held by civil defense non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like the Kuma Academy.
However, the lack of interaction between the ministry and civil defense NGOs leads to distrust, which hinders cooperation.
Former minister of national defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) once described the Kuma Academy as a guerrilla group training with paintballs. However, the Kuma Academy has never provided shooting training.
The National Pension Reform Committee, established in 2016, provides a model for promoting social consensus. The new defense resilience committee should learn from the experience by inviting representatives from the government, military and civil society.
The Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee can become a platform of diverse perspectives and provide a comprehensive proposal for security strategy rather than a tool for expanding presidential power, as a pro-China former KMT legislator wrongly claimed.
By bringing fresh knowledge and ideas into defense policy-making, Taiwan can accelerate its transition to asymmetric defense and strengthen deterrence against China’s aggression.
Integrating civil and national defense would also enhance Taiwan’s resilience and allow every Taiwanese to play a role in securing peace in the Taiwan Strait.
Calvin Chu is a research associate at the Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party Mission in the US. He worked for the civil defense non-governmental organization Forward Alliance. The opinions expressed here are solely his own and do not express the views or opinions of his employer.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long been expansionist and contemptuous of international law. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the CCP regime has become more despotic, coercive and punitive. As part of its strategy to annex Taiwan, Beijing has sought to erase the island democracy’s international identity by bribing countries to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei. One by one, China has peeled away Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic partners, leaving just 12 countries (mostly small developing states) and the Vatican recognizing Taiwan as a sovereign nation. Taiwan’s formal international space has shrunk dramatically. Yet even as Beijing has scored diplomatic successes, its overreach
In her article in Foreign Affairs, “A Perfect Storm for Taiwan in 2026?,” Yun Sun (孫韻), director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said that the US has grown indifferent to Taiwan, contending that, since it has long been the fear of US intervention — and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) inability to prevail against US forces — that has deterred China from using force against Taiwan, this perceived indifference from the US could lead China to conclude that a window of opportunity for a Taiwan invasion has opened this year. Most notably, she observes that
For Taiwan, the ongoing US and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets are a warning signal: When a major power stretches the boundaries of self-defense, smaller states feel the tremors first. Taiwan’s security rests on two pillars: US deterrence and the credibility of international law. The first deters coercion from China. The second legitimizes Taiwan’s place in the international community. One is material. The other is moral. Both are indispensable. Under the UN Charter, force is lawful only in response to an armed attack or with UN Security Council authorization. Even pre-emptive self-defense — long debated — requires a demonstrably imminent
Since being re-elected, US President Donald Trump has consistently taken concrete action to counter China and to safeguard the interests of the US and other democratic nations. The attacks on Iran, the earlier capture of deposed of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and efforts to remove Chinese influence from the Panama Canal all demonstrate that, as tensions with Beijing intensify, Washington has adopted a hardline stance aimed at weakening its power. Iran and Venezuela are important allies and major oil suppliers of China, and the US has effectively decapitated both. The US has continuously strengthened its military presence in the Philippines. Japanese Prime
RSS