President Chen Shui-bian presided over the executive level "National Security Report" conference at the Presidential Office this morning discussing the financial components of the "National Security Report" drafted by the National Security Council. The president delivered a speech before the start of the conference.
The president's speech is as follows:
We are gathered here today to review and discuss a draft "National Security Report" submitted by the National Security Council. In the future, we shall hold more meetings of this kind. I will choose an appropriate time to reconvene this national security conference to finalize our judgments on the "National Security Report".
An English political philosopher of the 17th century named Thomas Hobbes said that the establishment of a country is to protect its people from foreign invasions and domestic strifes.
As the leader of and elected by the Taiwanese people, I believe that it is our responsibility to tell the people of the threats that our country faces and what the core value of national security is to the government. Only with this approach may the government prioritize national security and propose appropriate policies utilizing limited resources and thorough evaluation of the security threat. It has always been my belief that Taiwan should model after other advanced countries, such as the United States, and regularly publish a "National Security Report" for the people or when a major event occurs.
From a traditional point of view, military threats were always considered the biggest threat to national security. But since the end of the Cold War, especially after the September 11th crisis, national security's definition has broadened even more. Its characteristic has also become more complex.
Besides traditional security concerns such as military threats, non-traditional security issues, like economy, society and civilization changes brought along by globalization, have also gained weight in importance. Whether it is economy, finance, energy, diseases, population, information and environment protection, they have all posed new challenges to us. If these issues are not dealt with properly, they could potentially influence the country's survival, prosperity and competitiveness. Even if it is not in of grave concern, it might still cause harm to the country's political, social order and environmental situation.
The redaction of this "National Security Report" covers both the concepts of traditional security and non-traditional security issues. Following a "comprehensive security" study, this report will provide solutions and strategies for the recent priorities that the government must deal with concerning the internal and external threats to national security. I would like to express my gratitude to the National Security Council as well as the Executive Yuan's staff and the academics that were involved in the redaction of this report. Since this is the first draft of the "National Security Report," there might be different point of views to be added or omissions to be made. This is why we must organize such an executive level conference, and demonstrate gravity and cautiousness we place on national security issues. I hope that this report will be even more comprehensive and complete following the discussions and communication today.