Civil defense in Taiwan traces its modern roots to theJapanese colonial period and has recently seen a resurgence due to the increasing threat fromChina following theRussian invasion of Ukraine. Taiwan has a large network ofair raid shelters. In the modern eracivil defense includes both governmental and non-governmental organizations. Prominent non-governmental organizations includeKuma Academy and theForward Alliance.
Organizedcivil defense in Taiwan began during theJapanese colonial period. After taking over in 1945, theChinese Nationalist government inaugurated the Taiwan Province Air Defense Command. This organization was primarily responsible for organizing air defense and evacuation. In 1949, it was renamed to the Taiwan Province Civil Defense Command. In 1973 the responsibility for civil defense shifted from the Ministry of Defense to the Ministry of the Interior with the National Police Agency taking over the civil defense infrastructure.[1]
In 2022, Taiwanese civil defense units had 420,000 registered volunteers.[1]
In 2023 training shifted to more of a wartime focus with 70% of exercises dedicated to wartime scenarios and 30% of exercises dedicated to natural disaster scenarios. It had previously been a 50–50 split.[2] In 2024 the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee was inaugurated. The Committee's purpose is to organize and standardize civil defense efforts across Taiwan taking awhole-of-society approach to the problem.[3] The committee held their first tabletop exercise in December 2024.[4]
Civil defense organizations in Taiwan have been inspired by Ukrainian resistance to Russian invasion and have incorporated lessons learned in Ukraine into their own training.[5]
The Civil Defense Act legislates the creation of civil defense units at four levels: city and county, district and township, state-run companies, and large companies, factories and schools.[1]
TheMinistry of Agriculture (Taiwan) is tasked with ensuring many aspects of Taiwan'sfood security, this includes ensuring a legally mandated three month supply of rice. Reserve food supplies are dispered around the country to make attacking them more difficult.[6] TheTaiwan Agricultural Research institute maintains a "doomsday bunker" hardened against military attack which houses samples of all crops grown in Taiwan.[7]
In 2023 the Ministry of Defense andMinistry of Health and Welfare (Taiwan) set up a reserve system for medical personnel.[8]
Kuma Academy provides civil defense training to civilians in Taiwan.[9] Classes cover topics likefirst aid and media literacy (intended to combatdisinformation from China).[10] Kuma Academy has also provided training inopen-source intelligence and cybersecurity.[11] According to Kuma, their goal is "to decentralise civil defence."[12]
TheForward Alliance is a Taiwanesenational security and civil defensethink tank. The group runs workshops to train civilians in disaster response and civil defense.[13][14] Following the beginning of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, public participation in training programs run by the Forward Alliance increased greatly.[15]
There are more than 117,000air raid shelters in Taiwan, some dating back to the Japanese colonial period. During theSecond World War an extensive network of bunkers and shelters was built across Taiwan to defend against alliedbombing raids.[16] Many more obsolete shelters as well as militarybunkers have been repurposed as commercial, artistic, or public buildings.[17]
The Taiwanese government publishes a civil defense handbook. An updated version was published in 2023.[18][19]
In 2023 Canadianexpat John Groot publishedResilience Roadmap: An Emergency Preparedness Guide for Expats in Taiwan which focuses on civil defense from the perspective of a non-Taiwanese living in Taiwan.[20] A second edition was released in 2025.[21] This second edition was also made available as a freeebook.[22]
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