The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today delivered its Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) to lawmakers, highlighting the nation’s defense strategy and elaborating on the role of US military cooperation.
As per Article 31 of the National Defense Act (國防法), the ministry must publicly submit the QDR to the Legislative Yuan within 10 months of a presidential inauguration.
The Legislative Yuan’s Foreign and National Defense Committee invited Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to deliver the review and answer questions from lawmakers.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The previous QDR in 2021 focused on strong defenses and multi-layered deterrence, which remained unchanged in this iteration.
The strategy would take advantage of Taiwan’s terrain to develop military preparation around the principles of “adaptability, agility, lethality, cost-effectiveness and stealth,” the latest QDR said.
The nation would build combat capability across land, sea and air, in addition to cyber, to deter aggression, the QDR said.
In wartime, the ministry would rapidly mobilize, enact multiple layers of defense and lean on military-civilian integration to delay enemy actions, weaken any invading forces and force a retreat, it said.
Future budget increases would focus on enhancing asymmetric capabilities and strengthening counters to “gray zone” threats, the QDR said.
To bring the total defense budget to President William Lai’s (賴清德) target of more than 3 percent of GDP, the MND would prioritize a special defense budget, it added.
Unlike the previous QDR in 2021, the latest review included a separate chapter dedicated to “linking regionally to strengthen collective deterrence,” with the chapter’s first section dedicated to “deepening military exchanges between Taiwan and the US.”
The US is an important strategic partner, engages in close military exchanges and assists the nation in developing its self-defense capabilities, it said.
The ministry would continue to promote strategic cooperation with the US to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, it added.
As for future cooperation plans, the ministry would expand and deepen cooperation in strategic national security dialogues and visits, joint military exercises, defense industry cooperation and intelligence sharing, it said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS