The launch of a specialized agency responsible for the mobilization of reservists during wartime and for disaster relief is intended to demonstrate to the world that Taiwan is resolutely determined to safeguard its national security, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony for the All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency, Tsai said that she instructed the Ministry of National Defense to establish the special agency as part of an ongoing reform of the nation’s reserve forces to make them reliable backups for regular soldiers.
As defense technology and challenges posed by modern warfare become more advanced, maintaining combat readiness must not solely rely on a standing army, but also on the efforts of citizens, Tsai said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The ministry is also drafting a handbook on “all-out defense” to increase the public’s knowledge and understanding of mobilization, air raid shelters and other responsive mechanisms in the event of wartime and peacetime emergencies, she said.
“The establishment of the all-out defense concept is key for Taiwan to continue bolstering its defense capabilities, and to show the world its resolute determination to defend itself,” Tsai said.
The new agency is to be tasked with improving training for Taiwanese reservists, and with updating mobilization plans for the nation’s reserve forces to meet increasing threats, as well as coordinating cross-ministry cooperation to boost the capabilities of national reservists in the event of war or natural disasters, Tsai said.
The agency is an enhancement of the All-Out Defense Mobilization Office, the ministry said, adding that the number of staff is to increase from 30 to 150.
Army Lieutenant General Pai Chieh-lung (白捷隆), who heads the ministry’s Department of Resource Planning, is to lead the agency, which officially starts operations tomorrow.
Asked to comment on the new agency’s significance, Institute for National Defense and Security Research senior analyst Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said that elevating the agency’s status from an office under the ministry to an independent unit would provide it more leverage when arranging reservist mobilization and disaster relief with government branches.
The agency is expected to play a major role in conducting international exchanges with the US National Guard, Su said, adding that this would help Taiwan learn from Washington’s experience in bolstering its reserve forces.
Chieh Chung (揭仲), an associate research fellow with the National Policy Foundation, a think tank affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), said that the agency’s founding would not solve the main challenges facing the nation’s reserve force, such as a lack of qualified officers to conduct training.
Legislative amendments are also required to allow military personnel to join Cabinet-level mobilization briefings, Chieh added.
Without such personnel in attendance, the ministry would not have access to other government branches’ preparatory work in the area of mobilization, he said, adding that the ministry cannot fully communicate its needs to other government branches if it has no representative at such meetings.
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