A system to discern friend from foe, and instant access to accurate information are among the highlights of the latest version of the All-Out Defense Response Handbook, which the Ministry of National Defense released yesterday.
The ministry presented the handbook at a news conference in Taipei after it spent more than a year revising a version it published in April last year.
The handbook has been expanded from 28 to 48 pages, the ministry said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency Director Shen Wei-chih (沈威志) said that the handbook has two main sections: “Peacetime Preparedness” and “Wartime Response.”
“Peacetime Preparedness” covers items that should be prepared for an emergency evacuation, distinguishing air-raid alerts, knowledge of important facilities and accessing accurate information.
“Wartime Response” covers possible combat situations, including telling friend from foe; conducting an emergency evacuation; handling of water, power or food shortages and other disruptions of daily necessities; addressing communications disruptions; responding to medical emergencies; managing battlefield crises caused by fire, explosives, chemical weapons or missiles; and contacting emergency hotlines.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The handbook shows uniforms and insignia worn by service personnel in Taiwan’s army, navy, air force and Marine Corps, as well as those worn by members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
“After Russia invaded Ukraine, many have suggested that the handbook should prepare the public for severe wartime situations and offer them adequate information to respond to changes,” Shen said. “As such, we consulted similar books published in other countries, and suggestions proposed by lawmakers and experts to compile the handbook.”
The handbook has information about air-raid shelters, hospitals with emergency rooms and rationing of daily necessities, and allows people to check locations on an app, Shen said.
During wartime, it is important that people do not believe rumors about defeat or surrender by the government, he said.
Nearly 94 percent of the nation’s air defense shelters have been inspected since Aug. 8 last year, the National Police Agency’s Civil Defense and Command Control Center deputy director Lin Kuo-hua (林國華) told the news conference.
Inspections of the remaining shelters should be completed during the first half of next month, Lin said.
Of the 89,405 air defense shelters across Taiwan, 83,691 have been inspected, he said.
“We are in the process of upgrading signs for air defense shelters across the country,” he said.
“Some local governments have been asked to laminate signs to prevent water damage,” he said. “Two regions have printed signs on acrylic panels. Should funding allow, cities and counties are encouraged to use LED panels for the signs.”
As of Wednesday last week, 83.4 percent of the signs had been upgraded, he added.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
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