TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The Ministry of National Defense (MND) unveiled an updated national defense handbook on Tuesday (June 13), aiming to equip civilians with vital knowledge on how to respond during emergencies.
The revised handbook focuses on providing civilians with essential information to survive during war or potential severe disasters. The MND dedicated over a year to the revision process, responding to feedback criticizing the original edition published in April 2022 for failing to meet wartime requirements.
Comprising two main sections, the detailed handbook on civil defense addresses "Peacetime Preparations" and "Wartime Responses." The former offers guidance on assembling emergency evacuation kits, recognizing air-raid alerts, locating critical facilities, and accessing accurate information.
The latter delves into actions to take during wartime, including enemy identification, emergency evacuation protocols, survival skills, strategies for managing communication disruptions, medical treatment procedures, and specific approaches for various disaster scenarios.
The handbook also includes emergency hotlines. To aid civilian comprehension, the manual incorporates images of Taiwan's military camouflage uniforms and those worn by the PLA, enabling individuals to distinguish between troops.
During a press conference, Shen Wei-chih, the head of the Ministry of National Defense's All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency, announced that individuals could download the user manual with an English version in preparation. Local governments will likely translate the guide into other languages.
In related news, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby dismissed the report from "The Messenger," claiming a plan to evacuate private U.S. citizens from conflict areas, stating that such evacuations are not a routine policy for the United States. Kirby underscored that the current conditions in Taiwan do not warrant reconsidering this policy.