TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The Executive Yuan revealed on Tuesday (Feb. 20) the latest policy report, which included plans to establish the "Taiwan Community Emergency Response Team" (T-CERT), with 320 teams totaling around 8,000 members within the next five years.
Training will target a wide range of entities including civilian businesses, school organizations, communities nationwide, corporations, and medical institutions.
The initiative, bearing resemblance to the civilian defense ideology of the Kuma Academy, has been met with opposition and skepticism from legislators of the Kuomintang (KMT).
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Puma Shen countered that the community response focuses on action during major disasters, not military operations.
Director Su Tzu-yun of the Institute for National Defense Security Research also discussed the proposal, citing Article 15 of Taiwan's Disaster Prevention and Protection Act, which already permits public and private sectors to establish disaster relief organizations.
He explained that the response teams would not be battle units but would be based on recommendations from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
As for the plan for civil defense teams by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), the Ministry of National Defense (MND) briefly stated they respect the policy actions.