00:00China pounds southern Taiwan with rockets.
00:07In response, Taiwan deploys troops and sets up air defences.
00:14This is not real life, but a tabletop war game involving college students.
00:20They are trying to figure out how to respond if China were to attack Taiwan.
00:24The game simulates government decision-making during a conflict.
00:27Its founder says the goal is not to predict results, but to inspire insights from students.
00:34The first objective is to let the participants and the audience to know more about the military issues about Taiwan.
00:43And another thing is our purpose is to simulate the crisis management to let all participants,
00:49and especially those still freshmen of National Taiwan University,
00:54to understand the proper way to conduct coordination and decision-making.
01:03During the games, one key challenge students encounter is how to communicate effectively across government bodies.
01:10One of the experts in attendance is former chief of general staff Li Ximing.
01:21He shows this game's president how government functions are likely to be disrupted during wartime.
01:27This student president is a business major.
01:39She says only by truly understanding cross-rate issues can she make the right decisions.
01:44And this war game helps.
01:46No matter what, from the business or economic or political perspective,
01:49I think that people should have a good political perspective.
01:54We can know that whether in the financial package or in the future,
01:57we should be able to do better.
02:00Another student says by playing the defense minister,
02:03he started to understand how hard it is to coordinate different forces,
02:07especially when trying to report situations to the president in a timely manner.
02:12Another key to a successful defense is to identify societal infiltration,
02:26which relies on efforts made by civil society.
02:29It's important for just regular citizens like the students to understand the threat
02:35from fifth element infiltration,
02:39the Chinese agents that's already in Taiwan.
02:42And even as individual citizens,
02:45maybe they will gain an understanding down the road
02:48how they can do something to prevent these type of damages
02:51to Taiwan's critical infrastructures.
02:54As China's military threat grows,
02:57Taiwan in recent years has emphasized the importance of civil resilience.
03:02These students are seen as an indispensable part of their efforts,
03:06proving that national defense isn't a distant concept,
03:10but something everyone can take part in.
03:13Hang Xie and Ellen Liu for Taiwan Plus.
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