The Urban Resilience Exercises this year are expected to last five months through August — overlapping with the Han Kuang exercises and raising the number of days that regions would be affected to two — with drone trials scheduled for Chiayi and Pingtung counties, National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) told the Presidential Office’s Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee yesterday.
The Urban Resilience Exercises would be more systematic and science-based, while they would be conducted without pre-scripted scenarios, Lin said.
The urban resilience drills conducted next month would coincide with the computer-assisted phase of the Han Kuang exercises, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
The Urban Resilience Exercises, which are coordinated by the Central Joint Emergency Operations Center, are to cover preventive civilian evacuations, relocation of hospitals and medical facilities, and joint transportation management, he said.
From next month to July, seven regions — Changhua, Chiayi, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Nantou and Yunlin counties, as well as Taoyuan — would participate at different times, with the areas involved for two days each, he said.
Drills in the four months would be conducted to boost information security, wartime psychological defense and cross-zone evacuation capabilities, as well as to improve integration of reservice and other civilian groups, such as the Taiwan Community Emergency Response Team, Lin said.
One of the highlights would be the use of uncrewed aerial vehicles to assist with transportation and logistics in Chiayi and Pingtung counties, he said, adding that it would be the first time for such drills to be conducted in Taiwan.
The Urban Resilience Exercises on Aug. 6 and 7 would be held alongside the live-fire Han Kuang exercises in Pingtung County and Kaohsiung, Lin said.
On Aug 12 and 13, drills of preventive and emergency evacuations of members of the public and medical workers would be conducted in New Taipei City and Yilan County, with transportation and logistics to be under a joint command, he said.
Air raid drills are scheduled in southern Taiwan at 10am on Aug. 7, while they are to be at 1:10pm in central Taiwan on Aug. 10, outlying regions on Aug. 11, eastern Taiwan on Aug. 12 and northern Taiwan on Aug. 13, he added.
President William Lai (賴清德) said at the meeting that geopolitical tensions have shifted dramatically over the past month, with conflicts spreading, affecting global energy and economic markets.
This year’s Urban Resilience Exercises would place greater emphasis on conflict scenarios to help the public understand how military and civilian efforts are coordinated, Lai said.
When threats arise, everyone in Taiwan should have a role to play in providing support and assistance, he said.
Lai issued three directives.
The first is to improve all exercises, ensuring that capabilities are practical, precise and effective; the second is to enhance coordination between central and local governments in defense resilience; and the third is to establish regional disaster-relief corridors, reinforcing international cooperation and a whole-of-society defense network.
Additional reporting by CNA
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS