The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET) was invited on November 6 to participate in a closed-door meeting hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York, titled “Taiwan’s Efforts to Build Whole-of-Society Resilience.” DSET joined CFR Fellow David Sacks and around 20 senior experts from academia, industry, government, think tanks, and media to discuss how Taiwan can strengthen its energy, defense, and societal resilience.
Lü Tsai-Ying, Director of DSET’s Energy Resilience Program, opened the session by outlining the concept of whole-of-society resilience and how it has evolved in Taiwan following the Russian-Ukrainian war. On wartime energy stockpiles—an area of intense scrutiny—Lü noted that estimates show Taiwan could maintain electricity supply for at least 40 to 50 days in a blockade scenario, given the expected reduction in industrial consumption. With additional power-rationing measures, the supply could be extended even further. Lü added that Ukraine’s experience demonstrates the vulnerability of nuclear power plants during wartime. In Taiwan’s case, the limited external transmission lines of the Maanshan nuclear plant make it especially fragile, and restarting a shutdown reactor would require one to two years of safety inspections and procedures—rendering nuclear power an impractical short-term option for energy security. Instead, Taiwan should continue expanding renewable energy, including improving solar efficiency, increasing offshore wind capacity, and exploring geothermal and other alternatives.
Chang Hung-Lun, Deputy Director of DSET’s National Security Program, followed with a briefing on unmanned systems and communications resilience. He explained that Taiwan is pursuing domestic production for small and medium-sized drones, while collaborating with allied partners on maintenance and production capacity for larger systems. On communications technologies, Chang noted that Taiwan views low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellites as an essential contingency option, and local telecom companies have already signed agreements with several global service providers.
Huang Kai-Shen, Director of the Democracy Governance Program, shared Taiwan’s ongoing efforts to counter foreign information manipulation and interference, highlighting both civil society initiatives and the government’s recent inclusion of such measures in the National Cybersecurity Strategy.
During the Q&A, participants asked about public-private cooperation in defense technology. Chang responded that Taiwan is working to enable the semiconductor sector to play a greater role in the drone industry, and is promoting deeper public-private collaboration through initiatives such as the “Taiwan Excellence UAV Global Alliance.” Regarding domestic political support for resilience policies, Lü emphasized that strengthening grid resilience is widely recognized as essential and enjoys broad consensus across society.
The visiting DSET delegation included Energy Resilience Program Director Tsaiying Lu, Deputy Director of the Economic Security Program Min-yen Chiang, Democratic Governance Program Director Kai-Shen Huang, Deputy Director of the National Security Program Hong-Lun Tiunn, and Non-resident Fellow of the Energy Resilience Program Yu-Hsuan Yeh.
