Taiwan's deputy national security chief told a Berlin security gathering that Taiwan will not sit around waiting for outside help against China, framing this as a serious warning for anyone watching cross-strait tensions.

• Lin Fei-fan said Taiwan faces rising military and "mixed" pressure from China, including thousands of warplane flights near Taiwan last year and large Chinese naval drills around the region since late 2024.
• He said Taiwan gets hit by millions of cyberattacks every day on power grids, hospitals, businesses, and government sites, and that several undersea cables have been cut in recent years, with China-linked ships tied to some incidents.
• Taiwan's strategy rests on three things: leaders being upfront with the public about the risks, making military drills more visible to build public trust, and building people's confidence in their own ability to defend themselves.
• He argued no single country can deter China alone — it takes combined effort from Taiwan's whole society plus international partners to prevent a crisis.
• Taiwan is also drawing lessons from Ukraine's war, emphasizing that civilian resilience and training matter as much as military strength, and is expanding civilian participation in defense drills next year.

Outlook: Taiwan plans to deepen coordination between civilian agencies and the military in next year's drills as it keeps warning that China's military pressure is likely to keep growing.