This year marks the 68th anniversary of the August 23rd Artillery Battle. President Lai Qingde went to Kinmen to participate in memorial activities, which once again triggered social discussions on war, peace and national defense. However, sixty-eight years later, when we re-understand the events of August 23, we cannot just relive the artillery fire of that year, nor should we just leave it to a war of words between political parties about who is better at defending Taiwan and who is better at bringing peace. Because the type of war in the 21st century has already changed. When a country is attacked today, the first "gun blast" may not even be a missile, but a sudden interruption of hospital information systems, failure of financial transactions, interference with communications, or a highly realistic fake video of a government leader suddenly appearing on a mobile phone.
President Lai Ching-te (middle) braved the rain to go to Kinmen to preside over a memorial event for the 68th anniversary of the August 23rd Battle, and laid flowers to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers of the Chinese army. (File photo) This is why in recent years, international security policies have paid more and more attention to "the resilience of the whole society." Traditional defense thinking is concerned with whether the military can block the first wave of attacks; resilience governance is concerned with whether society can continue to function even if part of the infrastructure is destroyed. This is particularly important for Taiwan. Electric power, communications, finance, medical care, transportation, ports and submarine cables may all become targets of hybrid threats. Not to mention that generative AI has dramatically reduced the cost of producing fake voices, fake images, and fake government announcements. If people don't know where to go to get trustworthy information when a crisis strikes, panic itself can cause a second wave of harm, even if the infrastructure doesn't completely fail.
Therefore, defense cannot be just the job of the Ministry of Defense. The central government should establish minimum maintenance standards for critical services across the country, and local governments should take a detailed inventory of their respective evacuation, medical care, water supply, energy, backup communications, and vulnerable population care capabilities. For example, how long can a large hospital sustain a power outage? How does the local government release information when the base station fails? Electronic payments are temporarily suspended, how can people's livelihood transactions be maintained? If long-term care institutions cannot obtain supplies normally, who is responsible for delivering them? These issues may not look like traditional military issues, but they are the most practical part of modern national security. What the national defense really wants to establish is not to require every citizen to become a soldier, but to let different social systems know what they should do in a crisis.
What is particularly worth building is "information resilience." A democratic society cannot fight against false information by blocking information. The truly effective way is to let credible information travel faster than false news. The government should establish a consistent crisis information release mechanism between the central and local governments, and familiarize the people with official verification channels in peacetime. Media, telecommunications platforms and large-scale social services should also establish quick contact windows for major crises. More importantly, the government must accumulate public trust in peacetime. If policy information is often inconsistent and explanations are delayed after a crisis occurs, then when a real national security incident occurs, even if the government releases correct information, the people may not believe it. From this perspective, transparent governance is itself a defense capability.
The New Taipei City 2026 Urban Resilience Exercise conducted a drill on load reduction and underground opening of medical facilities at Shuanghe Hospital in New Taipei City on August 13. (File photo) The most important historical experience left to Taiwan in August 23rd is to understand that peace can never rely solely on expectations. In a truly resilient country, even if it is attacked, its democratic system, government services and people's lives will not be easily defeated. Sixty-eight years ago, the military and civilians of Kinmen faced intensive artillery fire; sixty-eight years later, we may face missiles, cyberattacks, disconnections, false information and economic pressure at the same time. The most meaningful way to commemorate August 23rd is to transform the warnings left by history into today's institutional preparations: national defense must be strong and society must be able to sustain it.
