President Lai observes 2025 Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee field exercises

At noon on March 27, President Lai Ching-te observed 2025 Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee field exercises incorporating expanded emergency medical facilities at the Yuping Post Office in Tainan. In remarks, President Lai thanked all the participants and everyone who helped with the preparations. He expressed hope that we can contribute to future exercises through building on collaboration between the central and local governments, participation by reliable civilian forces, cross-regional integration of resources, and self-initiative of communities and private-sector entities. The president said that to ensure Taiwan’s security, we hope to rely not just on the armed forces, but also on the forces of defense resilience throughout our society, and that in that way we can achieve peace through strength.

After arriving at the venue, the president first listened to a report on “expanded emergency medical facilities.” He then observed the work done at various operational areas, including a medical command center, a district-level coordination center, a mobile police station, an emergency (including disease prevention) triage station, a moderate-to-severe trauma treatment area, a forward surgical operating area, and a disaster-related mental healthcare work area, for first-hand understanding of the field exercises. 

A translation of the president’s remarks follows:

I am very happy to be back in Tainan to take part in the first field exercises of the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee. These exercises had scenarios but no scripts. This was also our first time conducting exercises that incorporated expanded emergency medical facilities. Over 1,500 people from the central and local governments as well as private-sector entities took part in the exercises. Just moments ago, I observed all the various activities taking place and saw the well-trained participants fully applying their expertise in a sudden emergency.

The success of today’s exercises demonstrated the full commitment and professionalism of the participants, while also highlighting several important principles that can be promoted in the future. The first is coordination among authorities at the central and local levels. The Office of the President, the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee, and the Tainan City Government team worked together closely, from planning and design to implementation of the exercises. The second is participation by reliable civilian forces, including the Tzu Chi Charity Foundation, the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, the Mustard Seed Mission, and SHOWBA Store.

The third is cross-regional integration of resources. The exercises in Tainan had participants from other counties and cities such as Chiayi and Kaohsiung. The fourth is where communities and private-sector entities take action on their own initiative. Examples include the involvement of the Huweiliao residents’ rescue team, Songan independent flood disaster prevention community, Xinan resilience community, Kainan Community, and Anping District. In the future, whether it is collaboration between the central and local governments, participation by reliable civilian forces, cross-regional integration of resources, or participation of communities and private-sector entities, all parties can act together in concert and conduct comprehensive exercises.

I want to thank Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) for leading his team and for coming here yesterday to personally inspect the preparations, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) and Minister without Portfolio of the Executive Yuan Chi Lien-cheng (季連成) for their support in directing the exercises, and Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) for leading his Tainan City Government team. Everyone gave it their all to make sure the event went smoothly.

I also want to thank the civil society organizations and self-initiating community forces I mentioned earlier, as well as the Tainan City medical organizations that took part, including Chi Mei Medical Center, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan Medical Association, and other district hospitals and clinics. In addition, the participation of auxiliary police, auxiliary firefighters, auxiliary traffic police, and other community service workers was another wonderful aspect of today’s exercises.

I established the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee at the Office of the President after taking office. Our committee conducted tabletop exercises last December. And today we have followed those exercises with these small-scale live exercises in Tainan. We are also preparing to conduct urban exercises this April, the objective being to build resilience in Taiwan’s society so it can properly respond when there are large numbers of injuries resulting from natural disasters or major accidents and be prepared in the event of geopolitical changes in the region. It is said that “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure” and “do not count on the enemy not showing up; count on being ready should it strike.” We have made preparations so that, should a contingency occur, we can reduce the number of injuries. To ensure Taiwan’s security we hope to rely not just on the armed forces, but also on the forces of defense resilience throughout our society. In that way we can achieve peace through strength.

Also in attendance at the event were members of 13 foreign diplomatic corps in Taiwan, including American Institute in Taiwan Taipei Office Director Raymond Greene, Head of the European Economic and Trade Office Lutz Güllner, and Finland Trade Center Representative Lauri Matti Raunio.