TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan intends to train 400,000 civilians to support the military when needed. 

President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) presided over the first meeting of the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee (全社會防衛韌性委員會) on Thursday (Sept. 26), when the government announced plans to train 400,000 civilians, with one of the key objectives being "to support military operations when necessary," per UDN. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said that based on the principle of a shared fate, military and civilian resources will be combined.

The committee held a nearly four-hour meeting on Thursday. In his concluding remarks, Lai said the government's overall goal is to ensure that in the event of an emergency, the government and society can maintain core functions and, when necessary, support military operations.

Regarding how the 400,000 civilians will assist in military operations, Koo said civilian support for military operations would be required. According to the current All-out Defense Mobilization Readiness Act (全民防衛動員準備法) and the principle of a shared fate, military-civilian integration will be promoted, with the expectation that civilians will provide support, such as the use of civilian vehicles or barricades, which may need to be requisitioned.

Before the meeting, the National Security Council NSC Deputy Secretary-General Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters the goal is to develop these 400,000 individuals into a reliable civilian force with “moderate or higher operational capabilities," per Tai Sounds. Hsu said the manpower comes from civil disaster relief organizations, active and retired reserve military service members, community-level civilian task forces, and other non-governmental organizations or charitable groups.

When asked which civilians would be recruited, Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) on Friday (Sept. 27) told the media that the civilian force includes volunteer police, volunteer firefighters, and other civil groups, per Liberty Times. Liu said a large portion of the national defense resilience effort is focused on handling large-scale disaster relief. 

Liu explained that under the Civil Defense Act (民防法), there is a unit called the Civil Defense Corps, which includes local government bodies such as county and city governments, township offices, and other entities that are already part of the central disaster response system. Liu said the aim is to strengthen this system with horizontal and vertical integration.