Taiwan's National Security Council (NSC) has taken on a broader role in countering Chinese coercion, Nikkei Asia reported.
The publication cited multiple sources as saying that the Council is a driving force behind military and civil defense reforms aimed at strengthening asymmetric warfare capabilities and the resilience of the entire society. According to the sources, it also coordinates with other government departments and conducts diplomatic work to secure international support for Taiwan.
Commenting on the military’s focus on drones, Tristan Tang, a fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Studies, said: “The NSC is important because it helps the president develop and coordinate this policy, monitor how the Department of Defense is implementing it, and identify problems that may require intervention.”
“The military is inherently conservative, so the NSC’s political power can be important in moving forward with major defense reforms,” Tang said.
Over the past 10 years, the NSC has taken on a broader role as the lines between security, foreign policy, and domestic policy have become more blurred, he told Nikkei Asia. former senior Council official.
Issues such as international trade policy and technological restrictions are now more closely linked to Taiwan's foreign policy and national security decisions, rather than being considered separately.
“The NSC has become the executive branch's main hub for security, intelligence and policymaking,“ the former official said.
A representative of a G7 government, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the NSC had played a significant role in improving Taiwan's maritime security. He also praised Council Deputy Secretary-General Lin Feifan for her “truly impressive” his work on urban resilience.
“I'm not sure other countries could pull together such an ambitious program across all levels of government so quickly,“ he added.
However, a Western official warned that the NSC and the government needed to accelerate reforms in the areas of asymmetric warfare and civil defense.
“The urgent task is to implement changes in the armed forces, not to have discussions like in a think tank,“ he said.
British MP Tom Tugendhat said that Taiwan was already subject to online and offline attacks, as well as maritime intimidation. Without better coordination, Taiwan could be "divided and overwhelmed by Beijing before it can mount any meaningful response," he warned.
The UK and Japan have recently taken steps to create new intelligence structures. Philip Shetler-Jones, an expert on Indo-Pacific security at Britain's Royal United Services Institute, said there are opportunities for cooperation between the NSC and these agencies.
Given Japan's recognition that a Taiwan emergency would affect it as well, "it is natural for the new intelligence agencies to benefit from a link to Taiwan's NSC as a source of information needed to make comprehensive assessments of a potential crisis," Shetler-Jones said.
Earlier this month, NSC Secretary-General Joseph Wu said the Council had not changed its mission but had broadened its priorities.
"In the past, Taiwan's defense was the responsibility of the Ministry of National Defense," Wu said. “But today, when we think about the resilience of the Taiwanese government or society as a whole, we need to coordinate the actions of government departments so that when a crisis occurs - whether it is a natural or man-made disaster - society understands how to survive, how people can help themselves and how they can help others.“