Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te has presided over the first meeting of his new National Whole-of-Society Resilience Committee. Representatives from across government, academia and the private sector discussed how Taiwanese civil society can prepare itself for any natural or man-made disaster. Topics include civilian training, energy and critical infrastructure, medical care and evacuation procedures, communication security and transport and financial networks.
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00:00The first meeting of President Lai Ching-de's new civil defense committee has taken place
00:05in Taipei, bringing together public and private sector resources to make sure Taiwan has the
00:12best chance at responding to any natural or man-made disasters.
00:17In his opening remarks, Lai said he wants to continue his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen's
00:21legacy.
00:22She started by taking stock of the country's resources.
00:25He said now it's time to focus on verifying those resources and implementing them in case
00:30of disaster.
00:32He made three main points during his introductory speech, saying Taiwan needs to be prepared,
00:37particularly during peacetime.
00:39He said that Taiwan should strengthen its response mechanisms with confidence and that
00:44any plans should be rolled out step by step and in a controlled manner.
00:49Taiwan's civil defense includes training civilians in disaster response, making sure that energy
00:54and critical infrastructure is sound, making sure that medical care and evacuation procedures
01:00are in place, securing communication networks and transport and financial networks, all
01:06to the goal of building a stronger and more robust democratic society and safeguarding
01:12national security.
01:13And all this in the face of natural disasters.
01:17Taiwan is extremely prone to earthquakes and typhoons and of course an aggressive neighbor.
01:24China claims Taiwan as part of its own territory and hasn't ruled out taking the country by
01:28force if necessary.
01:31Lai plans to achieve all of this, he says, by bringing a wide range of players from across
01:35society to the table.
01:55Now, there's a diverse group from across the private sector, government and academia,
02:03including Taiwan's vice president, B. Kim Hsiao, government officials from different
02:08ministries including the defense, economic, transportation, agriculture and health ministries.
02:14Religious groups including Taiwan's Presbyterian Church, who have offered up their churches
02:18across Taiwan as places where civil defense training workshops could take place.
02:23There are civil defense groups including the Kuma Academy and Forward Alliance, and
02:27also representatives from Taiwan's communication and tech spheres, including the managing director
02:33from Google.
02:35As President Lai Ching-de said back in June when he announced the formation of the committee,
02:40and he also reiterated again today, anything that happens to Taiwan could send ripples
02:45through the entire globe, therefore Taiwan's issues are international issues and international
02:51issues are Taiwan's.
02:54And Lai could be right with Taiwan playing an oversized role in global chip production
02:58and being a free and open democracy in Asia.
03:02It could be in the rest of the world's interest to make sure that Taiwan remains a free, safe
03:08and fully functional country.
03:10Eason Pan, Kama Xu and Rhys Ayres in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.