The All-out Defense Mobilization Agency has three overseas visits and conferences planned for this year, one in the US and two in Europe, to learn from their reserve mobilization forces and whole-of-society resilience mechanisms, the Ministry of National Defense said in a report yesterday.
This year’s US trip is to study “mobilization operations,” with meetings planned to discuss reserve mobilization issues in Taiwan and possible reforms to the system, the agency said.
It would observe mobilization training of the US National Guard and other mechanisms, it said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Two visits to Europe would serve as a study of “whole-of-society defense operations,” while also observing mobilization mechanisms, it said.
Following the start of Russia’s war with Ukraine, nations across Europe are continuing to boost whole-of-society defense resilience, conscription and mobilization systems through adjustments and reforms, it said.
Since its establishment in 2022, the agency has worked with the ministry to promote exchanges with friendly nations, sending delegations to countries near Ukraine for field studies, it added.
The agency said that last year it cooperated with agencies to send delegations to Scandinavian countries to participate in hands-on exchanges with local civil defense and security organizations.
The exchanges covered topics such as civil defense training, firefighting and rescue, emergency evacuation, disaster relief, supply stockpiling and food storage, it said.
As those countries do not have official diplomatic ties with Taiwan and some delegation members were active-duty military personnel whose identities are sensitive, the visits were not publicized, it said.
The host countries preferred to keep the exchanges private, discreet and confidential, it added.
However, the ministry had earlier sent a separate report to the Legislative Yuan as part of the process to unfreeze portions of its budget.
During a review of the earlier report, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) suggested that the ministry should publicize official visits of the mobilization agency.
The ministry submitted yesterday’s report on its foreign travel expenses, detailing the names, destinations, itineraries and budgets for trips this year.
It is spending NT$4.04 million (US$133,868), about the same as last year, the ministry said.
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