Office of the President Republic of China(Taiwan)

On the morning of September 24, President Lai Ching-te met with a delegation from the United States-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). In remarks, President Lai stated that a more resilient and secure Taiwan can make greater contributions to the world. He noted that last month’s Han Kuang military exercises incorporated urban resilience exercises involving the general public and were greatly expanded in scale. The president said that moving forward, Taiwan will continue to build diverse, decentralized communication systems with backup capabilities, and will continue sharing experience with its democratic partners and deepening international collaboration.

A translation of President Lai’s remarks follows:

First, I warmly welcome our guests to Taiwan. This is FDD China Program Chairman Matthew Pottinger’s fourth visit to the Presidential Office since I took office in 2024. Tomorrow we will celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, an important holiday when family and friends reunite, so I am delighted to meet with old friends on this occasion.

I would like to thank the FDD and our distinguished guests for continuing to pay attention to Taiwan’s whole-of-society defense resilience and taking concrete action to support Taiwan. As we have said in the past, “peace through strength, strength through resilience, and resilience through unity.” Last Saturday, the Office of the President Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee hosted an international forum for the second year in a row. Over 500 experts and guests from here and abroad gathered in Taiwan to demonstrate the spirit of solidarity and cooperation among democratic partners.

In remarks at the forum’s opening, I emphasized, “When authoritarian actors seek to spread fear, democratic societies must spread confidence through resilience.” I would also like to thank Chairman Pottinger for speaking at the forum. In his keynote speech entitled “Are we ready?,” he pointed out that peace through strength is a precondition for sustaining Taiwan’s freedom and prosperity.

What Chairman Pottinger argues is precisely the direction we are moving in. Taiwan’s freedom and prosperity are not only crucial to the future of our people, they also concern the entire Indo-Pacific region and, indeed, global peace and stability. We have always believed that a more resilient and secure Taiwan can make greater contributions to the world.

Last month, Taiwan’s most important annual military exercises – the Han Kuang exercises – incorporated urban resilience exercises involving the general public. The exercises were expanded in scale this year. For the first time, we simulated maintaining communications during a mobile internet slowdown affecting an area with a population of 17 million people. The exercises also included relocating medical operations underground. Beyond that, we incorporated into the design of the exercises our experience in mobilizing low-orbit satellites when outlying islands were affected by compromised undersea cables and in the wake of an earthquake in Hualien.

We look forward to continuing to share experience with our democratic partners. In addition to attending the forum last Saturday, our distinguished guests also conducted a tabletop exercise centered on enhancing communications resilience. This was extremely helpful to Taiwan. I would once again like to extend my sincere appreciation to you all. Moving forward, Taiwan will continue to build diverse, decentralized communication systems with backup capabilities. We will also continue to work with today’s guests and deepen collaboration with our international partners. I look forward to exchanging views with our guests on issues of mutual concern.

Chairman Pottinger then delivered remarks, first thanking President Lai for receiving the delegation and wishing everyone a happy Mid-Autumn Festival. He said the president had put it very well in saying that peace is through strength, strength is through resilience, and resilience is through unity. He added that the delegation from the FDD has been impressed by exactly those qualities – the unity, resilience, and strength on display under President Lai’s leadership. Through the tabletop exercise held this week, he said, the delegation saw how realistic Taiwan’s training has become, and he noted that the addition of practical resilience training involving a growing share of the population is precisely the way to build confidence and, ultimately, to strengthen deterrence.

Chairman Pottinger noted that since his last visit to Taiwan, a number of defense budgets have passed with cross-party support, amounting to a larger share of Taiwan’s GDP than what the US spends on defense as a percentage of its GDP. He added that in the tabletop exercise the delegation took part in this week, the US side was deeply impressed by the creative and resilient steps the Taiwan team took to maintain a secure communications environment. He then said he looks forward to discussing these matters with President Lai in more detail.