President Lai attends opening of 2026 Resilient Taiwan for Sustainable Democracy International Forum  

On the morning of September 19, President Lai Ching-te attended the opening of the 2026 Resilient Taiwan for Sustainable Democracy International Forum. In remarks, President Lai stated that Taiwan is a Taiwan of the world and that it will continue to expand its participation by contributing to the world, build trust through professionalism, and connect to the world through cooperation. At the forum, the president announced the official establishment of the World Alliance for Disaster Management (WADM), an international organization spearheaded by Taiwan that will link together governments and disaster prevention agencies and organizations from around the world to advance joint training and joint exercises as well as mutual assistance and information sharing, with the aim of making Taiwan a cross-border hub for disaster prevention and response coordination.

President Lai emphasized that in the face of the challenges posed by authoritarianism, democratic partners must join hands, cooperate, and spread confidence through resilience, and added that they must also uphold the principle of peace through strength, strength through resilience, and resilience through unity. He said that through such joint efforts, Taiwan and its democratic partners will protect peoples’ welfare, preserve our free and democratic way of life, and defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and across the world, while building a society better able to deal with the shocks of extreme weather and recover quickly. This, he said, will make Taiwan more resilient, bring democratic partners closer together, and make the world a safer place. 

A translation of President Lai’s remarks follows:

The Office of the President Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee is now celebrating its second anniversary, and this marks our second Resilient Taiwan for Sustainable Democracy International Forum.

Over 500 experts and other distinguished guests from home and abroad have gathered here today to exchange views and learn from one another, so that all of us can better address climate change, gray-zone aggression, and geopolitical risks. This shows that Taiwan’s efforts promoting whole-of-society defense resilience have progressed toward closer international connections and cooperation.

I want to extend my deepest gratitude to everyone who made the journey here from overseas. Thank you for supporting democratic Taiwan.

Two years ago, I established the Office of the President Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee in hopes of boosting our society’s resilience through public-private cooperation, as well as joint discussion and concrete action among industry, government, academia, research institutions, and civil society groups.

Our goal is to ensure that the government can continue to operate effectively, and that society and essential services function as normal, should the nation face any type of disaster, be it natural or man-made. And when necessary, our society must also be able to support military needs.

From the beginning, we have sought to gain international insights on everything from major global events to advanced models for societal resilience in other countries. After two years of preparations, we are confident that the current Taiwan model has something to offer the international community, and can serve as a basis for other nations working to boost their own preparedness.

Just last month was Taiwan’s annual National Solidarity Month, during which we held the Han Kuang military exercises and the Urban Resilience Exercises. The world was watching these drills, and numerous foreign media outlets came to Taiwan to report from the field alongside our troops.

This year, we added a new component to the Urban Resilience Exercises – a mobile internet slowdown affecting 17 million people. This allowed the public to practice using backup communication methods in the event of a mobile network disruption.

In addition to that, the concurrent Urban Resilience and Han Kuang exercises this year enabled non-military government agencies at both the central and local levels to conduct simultaneous drills under the same conditions. This helped refine military-civilian integration and strengthen the capabilities of civilian units to respond under extreme circumstances.

This is because we know that safeguarding Taiwan has never been the responsibility of the military alone. People across our society – regardless of occupation, ethnicity, gender, or age, and whether military or civilian – can all play a part in defending this nation. Contributing in all manner of roles, every one of us can make Taiwan even more resilient.

I would like to give special thanks to all who participated in these exercises: active-duty forces, 20,000 reserve personnel, and nearly 10,000 civilian colleagues from government agencies at the central and local levels. I also thank people nationwide for uniting as one to successfully carry out these joint military-civilian exercises, which were the largest in our history.

As the international landscape transforms dramatically and China’s threats continue to intensify, my responsibility as president is clear: to ensure Taiwan is better prepared and has greater strength to maintain the status quo, and to prevent peace from being undermined by unilateral provocations.

Ladies and gentlemen, Taiwan’s defense budget has doubled over the past decade. For next year, the government has for the first time proposed an overall defense budget exceeding NT$1 trillion – NT$1.1225 trillion, sustaining defense spending above 3 percent of GDP, and we expect that figure to reach 5 percent by 2030. We are determined to strengthen Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities and to safeguard peace through strength.

Today’s forum focuses on how we respond to new and emerging forms of threat. It also devotes in-depth discussion to several dimensions – models of whole-of-society resilience in countries around the world, military-civilian cooperation, psychological defense, and resilience partnerships.

I would like to thank Anduril Industries Founder Palmer Luckey, Japanese House of Councillors Member Takinami Hirofumi, former Philippine National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, former United States Deputy National Security Advisors Matt Pottinger and Anne Neuberger, and experts from Ukraine, Finland, the European Union, NATO, and countries around the world for joining us today. We will continue looking to the experience of others to help us enhance our own preparation.

On the occasion of today’s forum, we are officially establishing the WADM, an international organization spearheaded by Taiwan. I would especially like to thank Vice President of the Republic of Palau Raynold Oilouch and Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Eswatini Thulisile Dladla for making the long trip here to attend this gathering, and for working with Taiwan to contribute to disaster prevention. 

The establishment of the WADM is a major breakthrough for Taiwan in over half a century of efforts to take part in international organizations. Eleven of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies and the Republic of Somaliland are founding members of the alliance. In addition, central and local governments and disaster prevention agencies and organizations from 21 countries, including the US, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Türkiye, and the Philippines are observers or partners. Together they form a cooperation network that spans the globe.

We will be rolling out joint training and joint exercises as well as mutual assistance and information sharing. And we will link together warnings, response, and recovery pre-, mid-, and post-disaster. We aim to make Taiwan a cross-border hub for disaster prevention and response coordination, because we firmly believe Taiwan Can Help.

Also launching today is IDEA 2026, the International Disaster Education & Action Forum, which is also very significant. Taiwan aims to link firefighting and disaster prevention education and training systems across the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Americas, continue adopting the international professional standards of the US National Fire Protection Association, and build a network for international cooperation.

Currently, the largest fire and rescue training center in Asia, and the third largest in the world, is located right in the heart of Taiwan – Zhushan Township in Nantou County. We look forward to cooperating with our partners from around the world to create a shared professional language out of a set of shared training standards, and to build shared disaster response capabilities through shared training.

To our international partners, I want to emphasize that Taiwan is a Taiwan of the world. Taiwan will continue to expand its participation by contributing to the world, to build trust through professionalism, and to connect to the world through cooperation.

When authoritarian actors seek to spread fear, democratic societies must spread confidence through resilience. And when authoritarian forces try to create disunity, that is all the more reason for democratic partners to join hands and cooperate.

Peace through strength, strength through resilience, and resilience through unity. All our preparation is aimed at protecting the welfare of our people, preserving our free and democratic way of life, and defending peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and across the world. At the same time, we face an increasingly extreme and unpredictable climate. Thus, our goal is to build a society that is better able to deal with shocks, recover quickly, and sustain itself over the long term.

Let us work together to make Taiwan more resilient, to bring democratic partners closer together, and to make the world we share a safer place. I wish today’s forum every success, and I wish the WADM and IDEA 2026 a smooth launch. Thank you.

Also in attendance at the event were American Institute in Taiwan Taipei Office Director Raymond Greene, British Office Taipei Representative Ruth Bradley-Jones, Head of the European Economic and Trade Office Lutz Güllner, and representatives from other countries.

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