Rescinding provisions of the Civil Defense Act (民防法) permitting civilian forces to support military tasks during wartime would cripple national defense, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said on Saturday.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) had proposed draft amendments to the Civil Defense Act (民防法) to exclude military operations support from the scope of civilian defense efforts.
President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has set a goal of training 400,000 people as part of a civilian defense force to enhance whole-of-society defense resilience.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
However, opposition parties have questioned whether those people would be conscripted into a “militia.”
The KMT caucus said it would also propose draft amendments to the All-out Defense Mobilization Readiness Act (全民防衛動員準備法) to revoke provisions for the mobilization of “school youths.”
Liu said she was concerned about Hsu’s bill, which was sent back to the legislature’s Procedure Committee on Friday.
The 400,000 people to be trained for a civilian defense force would include about 270,000 people who are active members or reservists in alternative military services, more than 40,000 volunteer firefighters, and more than 70,000 people from civic task forces, such as volunteer police and disaster response groups, she said.
A civilian defense force would assist the government in humanitarian aid and maintaining public order in response to natural disasters or other emergencies, she said, adding that they would not be “recruited,” but would be grouped and trained in line with regulations
The armed forces are among the primary responders to natural disasters, but they could not be mobilized if they are engaged in a war, she said.
The Civil Defense Act was based on Geneva Conventions to establish legal grounds for a resilient society that could deal with extreme situations, Liu said.
“Civilian defense forces would help maintain public order and control traffic, and help with disaster relief, rescue operations and logistics work. They are not armed militias and would not participate in military combat missions,” she said.
Students should develop the ability to identify disasters or crises and how to respond, which have long been incorporated in training on campus safety and earthquake safety, as well as the military training courses in high schools, she said.
“Students are part of the national defense system on campus, and their inclusion [in civilian defense forces] is not new,” she said.
Efforts between civic groups and government agencies at all levels in promoting national resilience should not be stigmatized, she said.
“Would anyone say physical education should be abolished just because a student got hurt and bled during the class?” she said in response to those who exaggerate the risk of civilians providing support to the military.
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