Next month has been designated “national unity month” to boost civilian preparedness and emergency response measures, with urban resilience drills to be held across Taiwan, a national security official said yesterday.
President William Lai (賴清德) is to preside over the fourth meeting of the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee on Thursday, where he would declare next month as “national unity month,” said the official, who wished to remain anonymous.
With the slogan “Team Taiwan, Stronger Together,” the core principle of “national unity month” is that defense is not the sole responsibility of the military, but a duty shared by all citizens, the official said.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
The military and civilians would work together to demonstrate national unity, showing the world Taiwan’s resilience and strong will to defend and protect itself, they said.
Urban resilience exercises would be held across northern, central and southern Taiwan, with each city and county to host civil defense drills, including air raid response drills, they added.
The exercises would run alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military drills, which have been extended to 10 days this year, up from five.
From Wednesday next week to July 31, the Ministry of the Interior and the National Police Agency would host air raid shelter exhibitions with educational displays and emergency preparation kits, the official said, adding that an exhibition would be held in Taipei’s Ximen (西門) MRT Station.
The ministry would also release a new edition of the air defense shelter guide on Wednesday next week, along with an app to help people locate their nearest shelters, they said.
“National unity month” is to begin with air raid alert drills, incorporating emergency medical stations and relief centers, and would be hosted by all 22 local governments in coordination with the Han Kuang exercises, the official said.
The urban resilience drills would be condensed into a single day, testing several scenarios, emergency response systems, and cooperation between military and civilian agencies, including intelligence sharing, they said.
The National Land Management Agency is incorporating air raid shelters into public safety inspections starting this year, they added.
Full-scale evacuation drills would be held in Taipei’s Zhongzheng (中正), Zhongshan (中山) and Songshan (松山) districts, Taichung’s Shalu (沙鹿), Cingshuei (清水) and Wuci (梧棲) districts, and Tainan’s West Central (中西), East (東) and Shanhua (善化) districts, the ministry said.
All residents in the nine districts would participate in drills led by civil defense teams, village wardens, volunteer police officers, firefighters and community organizations, such as building management committees.
Locations such as public parking lots, government buildings and apartment complexes would be required to open their doors as shelters, helping the public to practice air raid procedures, the ministry said.
The drills are being held with the aim of discouraging people from waiting out alerts at convenience stores during the annual Wanan air defense exercise, national security officials said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS