President Lai presides over sixth meeting of Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee

On the afternoon of December 23, President Lai Ching-te presided over the sixth meeting of the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee. President Lai stated that the spirit of Taiwan is a spirit of unity. In the face of major natural disasters and an ongoing ratcheting up of threats by China against Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region, the president remarked that Taiwan will continue gathering together its forces – both central and local, public and private. He added that it will continue integrating systems, policies, and resources to ensure the government and society can work in close coordination. The aim, he stated, is to build up societal resilience more broadly and comprehensively. He also encouraged citizens to take an active part in civil defense work and help to strengthen Taiwan’s ability to respond with resilience to challenges.

The president emphasized that Taiwan intends to vigorously develop its defense industry and strengthen its national defense capabilities in order to demonstrate to the world that it is determined to defend itself and maintain the status quo. Achieving defense resilience, he said, involves more than just being militarily prepared, strengthening social systems, and improving infrastructure; more importantly, awareness must be raised throughout society. The president expressed hope that all citizens will work together to strengthen the ability to respond with resilience to challenges, so that Taiwan can play an indispensable role in the global democratic defense network.

A translation of President Lai’s opening statement follows:

Today, we are convening the sixth meeting of the Office of the President Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee. We have used a number of different formats to conduct these meetings since the committee was established.

These activities included tabletop exercises for central and local governments at the Office of the President, field exercises in Tainan City, and an international forum. This afternoon we carried out a resilience consensus building workshop.

I want to thank our three deputy conveners and all the advisors and committee members for their hard work. Moving forward, we will continue our efforts.

As I emphasized at the first committee meeting, the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee is an action committee that should not be confined to fixed formats. We want to gather together our forces – both central and local, public and private – and bring them to bear at the grassroots level, laying down roots in neighborhoods. We need to enable people with all different kinds of expertise to engage with one another, so as to build up societal resilience more broadly and comprehensively.

We have therefore taken many steps to integrate systems, policies, and resources. Our intention is to ensure that the government and all sectors of society can work in close coordination. At the same time, we actively engage with our friends and allies to ensure that Taiwan can play an indispensable role in the global democratic defense network.

At today’s meeting our Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Ministry of Digital Affairs will report on the results of work done in the five key areas, including “civilian force training and utilization.” We have also invited Minister without Portfolio of the Executive Yuan Chi Lien-cheng (季連成) to speak on practical experience and improvement measures related to disaster relief work in Hualien.

In addition, at today’s resilience consensus building workshop, I invited our advisors and committee members to provide recommendations for improvements regarding the five key areas. I look forward to more thorough discussions as this meeting proceeds.

But before we begin, I want to share four points with the people of Taiwan.

First, Taiwan has met with several major natural disasters this year that have resulted in many casualties and damage to infrastructure. However, as we have all witnessed, our people have withstood the disasters with unwavering perseverance.

Rescue workers and troops showed up immediately. The central government responded without delay. Construction crews worked day and night to complete urgently needed repairs. Civil society groups raced to provide support. Many individuals – superheroes of disaster relief – came from around the country and from all walks of life to help. Such acts highlighted the spirit of unity and mutual help that is so characteristic of Taiwan, and truly demonstrated the power of whole-of-society defense resilience. What I want to say is that the spirit of Taiwan is a spirit of unity.

Second, last Friday’s indiscriminate attack in Taipei shocked Taiwanese society and resulted in severe injuries and deaths. The central and local governments as well as medical institutions all responded promptly to the incident.

I want to emphasize once more that protecting the people’s safety is the government’s fundamental responsibility. I hope that, with this incident in mind, the central and local governments can demonstrate Taiwan’s spirit of unity by jointly conducting a review, taking corrective actions, establishing systems, and continuing to improve incident response capabilities, so that we can quickly deal with crises and together protect the safety of our citizens.

Third, China continues to ratchet up its threats against Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region in an attempt to change democratic Taiwan into “Taiwan, China.” This is a serious threat to our national sovereignty and national security. And beyond that, it is a blatant provocation directed at the community of free and democratic nations around the globe.

Last month I held a press conference right here, where I announced two national security action plans to safeguard democratic Taiwan and proposed an eight-year, NT$1.25 trillion special defense budget. Today, speaking via live broadcast, I want to assure my fellow citizens once again of the following: Taiwan intends to vigorously develop its defense industry and comprehensively strengthen its national defense capabilities in order to demonstrate to the world that it is determined to defend itself and maintain the status quo.

Fourth, we know that achieving defense resilience involves more than just being militarily prepared, strengthening social systems, and improving infrastructure; more importantly, awareness must be raised throughout society.

The more prepared we are, the safer we’ll be. That is why our government this year published “Taiwan’s National Public Safety Guide” and distributed it throughout the nation. We wanted citizens to have a booklet in hand that would provide guidelines on how to respond to all kinds of challenges, and would remind people what they need to do in advance to improve their emergency response preparedness. The guide also encourages readers to take an active part in civil defense work and help to strengthen Taiwan’s ability to respond with resilience to challenges.

Finally, I again want to thank you all for generously contributing your expertise and enthusiasm, as well as your time and effort, to this undertaking. In the effort to build up whole-of-society defense resilience, we have pooled our collective wisdom, built consensus, and promoted more concrete and more practical action plans.

Our achievements belong not just to the committee, but to all our nation’s citizens. Let’s continue to work hard together and further enhance our whole-of-society defense resilience.

Following his statement, President Lai heard a report on the results of work done in the five key areas in 2025 and a report on efforts to improve resilience with reference to disaster relief work following the Fata’an Creek barrier lake disaster. The president then exchanged views with the committee members regarding the reports and the results of the resilience consensus building workshop.