The Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee — which is aimed at promoting society-wide involvement in national defense — is to hold its first meeting on Thursday next week, with four points of focus aimed at boosting resilience, sources said yesterday.
The committee was established by President William Lai (賴清德) in June, a month after he took office, along with the National Climate Change Strategy Committee and the Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee.
Lai at the time said that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would chair the committee, with Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) and National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) serving as its deputy conveners, while Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) would be its executive secretary.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The defense committee would focus on strengthening national defense, disaster prevention and response measures, and the resilience of society to disasters, sources said.
The committee is to coordinate with local civic organizations, central police and fire-fighting authorities, the central government and national defense agencies to formulate an overall security strategy for the country, they added.
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene, during his address at an emergency preparedness exercise on Saturday organized by a local non-governmental organization, said Taiwan’s ongoing efforts to boost its all-out-defense capabilities would benefit the entire world as well as Taiwan, given that the nation is at the epicenter of global semiconductor manufacturing.
The AIT and the Taiwanese government have been working hand in hand to deepen Taiwan’s resilience “as it faces unprecedented threats, both natural and man-made,” he said, adding that the AIT also focuses on strengthening the nation’s energy resilience, cybersecurity and disinformation countering capabilities.
Kuma Academy chief executive officer Chu Fu-ming (朱福銘) yesterday said that academy chairperson Liu Wen (劉文) and cofounder Tseng Po-yu (曾柏瑜) would serve on the defense committee as consultants.
“In developed countries such as those in Northern Europe, national defense is part of basic education,” Chu said. “That type of training prepares people to respond to war-related disasters, and also natural disasters such as typhoons and earthquakes.”
Kuma Academy was founded based on the principle that public and non-military bodies should be more resilient so they can better respond to emergencies such as war and natural disasters, he said.
The need for resilience is particularly strong in Taiwan due to the importance of the nation to global industries and the global economy, he said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Interior yesterday released a preview for planned amendments that would increase training for civil defense cadres from four to 12 hours annually.
The draft amendments also called for the implementation of a civil defense materials brigade, which is to be responsible for managing and distributing everyday supplies to the public following natural disasters or the onset of war.
There are about 20,000 civil defense personnel, about 20,000 volunteer law-enforcement personnel and about 40,000 volunteer firefighters in Taiwan.
However, 64 percent of the civil defense volunteers are aged 50 and older.
The draft amendment would also add new responsibilities for civil defense personnel and volunteers, including processing the identities of disaster victims, conducting surveys of public needs and handling logistical support for daily supplies.
The scope of volunteers at aid stations would also be expanded to include medical staff from clinics and pharmacies.
Training should be updated once or twice per year, and all registered volunteers should be called to participate, the amendments state.
Additional reporting by Huang Ching-yi and CNA
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS