The government is to step up countermeasures against spying and infiltration next year amid increased national security threats from China, the Executive Yuan said yesterday in a policy plan for next year that focuses largely on threats from Chinese “united front” warfare and the government’s response strategies.
The Cabinet would promote President William Lai’s (賴清德) 17 strategies aimed at countering Beijing’s influence operations, and boost the national defense budget to 3 percent of GDP, it said yesterday.
National security laws would be amended to pre-empt China’s “united front” infiltration and cognitive warfare, and cooperation with Taiwan-friendly countries in high-tech industrial developments would be bolstered to build a global democratic supply chain, it said.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
Action plans for collaborations with allied countries would be formulated to convey Taiwanese’s will and a societal consensus opposing annexation by China, thereby counteracting Beijing’s attempts to downgrade or destroy Taiwan’s sovereign status in the international community, it said.
In terms of national defense, the Cabinet said it would use its resources to develop asymmetric warfare capabilities, enhance defense resilience, bolster the reserve force and improve the nation’s capacity in addressing “gray zone” intrusion based on the “resolute defense, multi-domain deterrence” strategy.
The training of the armed forces would follow a combat-oriented, joint-operations approach to enhance their capabilities in preparatory deployment, joint anti-amphibious operations, littoral and landing beach combat, deep defense and sustained operations, it said.
Arms and ammunition would be acquired through manufacturing, or commercial or military procurement based on joint operational needs, it added.
A certification and safety management system at the national defense level would be set up to support the development of a comprehensive supply chain for the national defense industry to achieve defense independence, the Cabinet said.
The government would continue to enhance Taiwan-US ties and deepen bilateral military exchanges and cooperation, it said, adding that it would also explore military exchanges with other pro-Taiwan countries through higher-level policy integration, military affairs reform and national defense industry developments.
Resources from central and local governments would be mobilized and used to invest in reinforcing whole-of-society defense resilience, it added.
The Executive Yuan said China’s actions against Taiwan should be carefully addressed and democratic defense resilience should be enhanced to steadily promote cross-strait exchanges, it said.
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