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.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
RSS