Presidential Office to hold international resilience forum

The Presidential Office is to hold an international forum on Saturday, with about 500 defense experts, officials and business representatives expected to discuss whole-of-society resilience and to examine Taiwan’s preparedness against threats from China, the office said yesterday.

The second edition of the Resilient Taiwan for Sustainable Democracy International Forum would take place at the Grand Hyatt Taipei, the office said in a statement.

It would cover topics including whole-of-society defense resilience preparedness, civil-military integration, psychological defense, maritime resilience, cybersecurity, response to “gray zone” activities and the protection of critical infrastructure, it said.

President William Lai speaks at the opening ceremony of the Presidential Office’s first Resilient Taiwan for Sustainable Democracy international forum on Sept. 20 last year.

Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times

Anduril Industries founder Palmer Luckey is to deliver an opening keynote speech on how democracies can adapt to modern warfare and respond to emerging threats, the office said.

American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene and UK Representative to Taiwan Ruth Bradley-Jones are to share their observations of Taiwan’s efforts to build up whole-of-society defense resilience over the past year, it said.

The forum would conclude with a discussion between National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and former US deputy national security advisers Matt Pottinger and Anne Neuberger, the office said.

The office said a focus of the forum is to showcase work undertaken by the government, civil society and the private sector to promote whole-of-society resilience over the past two years in response to natural disasters, hybrid threats, information manipulation and threats to critical infrastructure.

The expected participation of international security experts and officials ahead of a summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week sends a “clear message” that the international community cares deeply about peace across the Taiwan Strait and represents concrete action in support of it, the Presidential Office said.