The Taiwanese armed forces are able to respond quickly to a “sudden attack” from China, even without having to wait for orders from their superiors, the island’s Ministry of Defense (MDN) said this Monday (December 15, 2025) in a report sent to Parliament.
In the document, published by CNA news agency on Monday evening, the portfolio details the response mechanisms to possible military aggression by China against Taiwan, a territory that has been governed autonomously since 1949 and is considered a “rebellious province” by Beijing authorities.
According to MDN, if China announces military operations near the Taiwan Strait, the island’s forces would activate a “response center” responsible for coordination at the various operational levels and, depending on the situation, raise the alert level to “immediately conduct combat preparation maneuvers.”
In parallel, the three main armed forces – Army, Navy and Air Force – would conduct “response missions” to prevent the Chinese army from moving from maneuver to combat.
“If the enemy launches a sudden attack, the units will act without waiting for orders from a ‘distributed control system’ and carry out their combat missions according to decentralized operational guidelines,” the ministry said.
The release of this report comes less than a month after Taiwanese President William Lai, branded by Chinese authorities as an “independence advocate” and “troublemaker,” announced a series of initiatives to strengthen the island’s defense capabilities.
A “toxic tumor” harming Taiwan
Most relevant was the executive branch’s proposal to invest 1.25 trillion Taiwanese dollars (approximately $39,681 million) between 2026 and 2023 to, among other things, finance the development of the “Taiwan Shield” (T-Dome), a multi-layered air defense system similar to Israel’s “Iron Dome.”
However, this spending plan has not yet been discussed in the island’s parliament, where the two main opposition parties, the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (PPT), which support closer ties between Taipei and Beijing, hold a majority of seats.
For his part, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Jiang Bin on Monday accused Lai of “repeatedly inflaming the alleged ‘military threat’ from the mainland and intensifying confrontation and antagonism between the two sides of the Strait.”
“The Lai government’s independence provocations aimed at pursuing ‘independence’ are the worst toxic tumor harming and destroying Taiwan. ‘Reunification’ between both sides of the Strait is the best option to guarantee lasting peace in Taiwan,” the spokesman said.
China views Taiwan as an “inalienable part” of its territory and has not ruled out using force to take control of it, a position rejected by Taipei’s executive branch, which maintains that the island’s future can only be decided by its 23 million residents.
mg (efe, reuters)
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