Taiwan staged a three-day major earthquake drill in Taitung with rescue teams from 11 countries and observers from 18 foreign missions, a neutral-to-positive sign that Taiwan is deepening its international ties and disaster readiness.

• The drill simulated a magnitude 7.3 quake hitting eastern Taiwan, with damaged infrastructure and cut-off outside help, run without a script to test real response.
• Over 150 foreign search-and-rescue and medical workers took part, and the top US envoy in Taiwan, plus Canadian, Swedish, and Singaporean representatives, watched alongside President Lai Ching-te.
• Lai tied the exercise to Taiwan's "whole-of-society resilience" push, noting the number of trained civilian disaster volunteers has grown from 100,000 to over 177,000 in under a year.
• The drill folded in lessons from last year's typhoon and landslide-dam disasters, including backup communications and evacuee shelter planning.

Outlook: Taiwan will host an international resilience forum tomorrow and plans to keep expanding joint rescue training with partners like Germany and Indo-Pacific countries.