The Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) participated in the fifth Taiwan–Czech Forum hosted by the European Values Center for Security Policy (EVC), a Czech think tank, on March 25. DSET President Wen-ling Tu was invited to speak in the first panel, “Addressing the Polycrisis,” where she discussed the shared challenges faced by Taiwan and Ukraine in today’s evolving geopolitical landscape.
In addition to her role as DSET President, Tu serves as a member of Taiwan’s Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee. In her remarks, she noted that Taiwan faces persistent pressure from China and, in several key areas, its situation is in some respects even more challenging than that of Ukraine.
On energy security, Tu highlighted that nearly half of Taiwan’s electricity generation relies on natural gas, almost all of which is imported. In recent years, Chinese military exercises have repeatedly targeted energy infrastructure. On communications resilience, Taiwan depends entirely on undersea cables for external connectivity, while its satellite capabilities remain limited. Any disruption to these cables would pose significant challenges to maintaining communications. In addition, Taiwan continues to face large-scale cyberattacks, with an average of approximately 2.6 million intrusion attempts per day over the past year, primarily targeting critical infrastructure in the energy and telecommunications sectors.
Tu noted that Taiwan has been building a domestic drone supply chain since 2022, drawing lessons from Ukraine. However, excluding Chinese components has raised production costs by two to three times, slowing market expansion. Although output has increased more than twelvefold over the past year to around 120,000 units, this still falls short of Ukraine’s estimated monthly usage.
To address these challenges, Tu pointed out that Taiwan’s Presidential Office established the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee in 2024. The committee brings together experts across sectors and focuses on civil defense training, critical infrastructure protection, information and communications resilience, and the distribution of strategic supplies, working closely with government agencies to develop and implement policy measures. She also emphasized that DSET focuses on the intersection of energy, technology, and geopolitics. Its research aligns closely with these priority areas, while also providing policy recommendations and actively expanding international collaboration.
Despite the challenges, Tu stressed that Taiwan is not facing them alone. Through continued engagement with international partners, Taiwan has found strong common ground with countries in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly on issues related to security and economic resilience. She noted that both sides share a deep understanding of what it means to live alongside a powerful and unpredictable neighbor, and recognize that economic resilience and security resilience are closely interconnected.
The forum also featured Gabriela Svárovská, Member of the Czech Chamber of Deputies; Mykhailo Samus, Director of the New Geopolitics Research Network in Ukraine; Rachel Bernstein, Research Fellow at the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation (CAPRI); and Marcin Jerzewski, Head of the EVC Taipei Office. Discussions focused on social resilience, wartime energy security, and economic security.
