The government is to begin distributing millions of civil defense handbooks to households nationwide this week, in an unprecedented effort to prepare residents for potential emergencies, including the possibility of a Chinese attack.
The handbook, unveiled in September, includes for the first time instructions on what to do if encountering enemy soldiers and stresses that any claims of Taiwan's surrender should be considered false.
Photo: CNA
It also provides guidance on locating bomb shelters and preparing emergency kits.
It marks Taiwan's latest effort to prepare its population for crises ranging from natural disasters to a Chinese invasion.
"This booklet shows our determination to defend ourselves," said National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), who oversaw the effort.
"We need people across the Taiwan Strait to understand that there will be a huge cost if China makes the wrong decision, because Taiwanese have the resolve and very clear commitment in defending ourselves and people are willing to take that action to protect each other," he said.
The distribution to more than 9.8 million mailboxes nationwide is to start this week and handbooks in English and other foreign languages would also be handed out soon, Lin said.
After the distribution, Lin said the government would help people prepare their personal emergency kits through promotional campaigns, although he did not give details.
The handbook outlines scenarios Taiwan might face, from sabotage of undersea cables and cyberattacks, to inspections of Taiwanese vessels by an "enemy nation" as a prelude to conflict, and even an all-out invasion.
Lin said Taiwan is already facing hybrid warfare by China, including cyberattacks, infiltration, misinformation campaigns and military incursions.
"It is D-day versus everyday. D-day means actually invasion. Obviously we are not in the D-day mode, but we are facing the so-called everyday coercion," he said.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
RSS