Taiwan has become a super-aged society, with people aged 65 or older accounting for more than 20 percent of the population. As the demographic structure undergoes a dramatic transformation, the government has over the past few years promoted a long-term care program, health promotion and disability-prevention policies to reduce the burden on the healthcare and elderly care systems. Yet we are still overlooking an earlier form of public infrastructure: learning for older adults.
Lifelong learning for older people has long been misunderstood as little more than a leisure activity. What it builds is actually something far more important: the capacity to age well. Through health promotion, digital learning, lifelong education, social participation and volunteer work, older adults can maintain their physical and mental functioning, delay cognitive decline, expand their social support networks, and continue contributing to their families and communities.
True resilience is never built after a crisis has already struck. It is accumulated through capabilities developed earlier. The greatest challenge facing a super-aged society is not that there are more older people, but that the number of people living with disabilities might rise rapidly. If older adults lose their mobility, social connections and independence early, even the most comprehensive healthcare and long-term care systems would be overwhelmed.
Therefore, instead of directing the vast majority of resources toward care after disability occurs, we should move some investment upstream. By promoting learning and participation while people are healthy, we can help more people delay disability and extend their healthy life expectancy. It is not consumption spending, but a public investment with long-term returns.
We are willing to spend enormous sums building infrastructure and other public facilities, because we understand that physical infrastructure is essential to national development. However, a super-aged society needs more than visible infrastructure; it also needs invisible infrastructure: human capability.
Lifelong learning can change the way we view older adults. They should not be regarded merely as people who need to be cared for. They are also human capital capable of continuing to learn, serve and contribute.
When older adults become volunteers, lead community activities, participate in the workforce, pass on skills or support others, they not only bolster their sense of purpose and value, but also reinforce community solidarity and intergenerational integration.
Faced with a super-aged society, the government should fundamentally rethink the role of learning in later life and make it an integral part of national resilience. It should establish cross-ministerial cooperation linking lifelong learning with health promotion, long-term care, community-based services and the development of an older workforce. Education should no longer be viewed simply as the transmission of knowledge; it should become a core policy for building the capabilities of older people, promoting healthy aging and social participation.
Everyone will grow old. Investing in learning for older adults today is not merely an investment in today’s seniors; it is an investment in our own future.
A truly resilient society does not wait until people fall before reaching out to help them up. It gives people the strength to remain standing.
As Taiwan enters the era of a super-aged society, learning in later life should no longer be treated as an optional educational service. It should become a cornerstone of national resilience.
TAIWÁN: APRENDIZAJE A LO LARGO DE LA VIDA PARA LA RESILIENCIA NACIONAL
Taiwán se ha convertido en una sociedad superenvejecida, donde las personas de 65 años o más representan más del 20 por ciento de la población. A medida que la estructura demográfica experimenta una transformación drástica, el gobierno ha impulsado en los últimos años programas de cuidados a largo plazo, así como políticas de promoción de la salud y prevención de la discapacidad, con el fin de aliviar la carga sobre los sistemas de atención sanitaria y de cuidados a los mayores. Sin embargo, seguimos pasando por alto una forma de infraestructura pública fundamental: el aprendizaje para las personas mayores.
Durante mucho tiempo, el aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida para los mayores se ha malinterpretado, considerándolo poco más que una actividad de ocio. En realidad, lo que fomenta es algo mucho más importante: la capacidad de envejecer bien. Mediante la promoción de la salud, el aprendizaje digital, la educación continua, la participación social y el voluntariado, las personas mayores pueden mantener sus capacidades físicas y mentales, retrasar el deterioro cognitivo, ampliar sus redes de apoyo social y seguir contribuyendo a sus familias y comunidades.
La verdadera resiliencia no se construye una vez que ha estallado la crisis; se acumula gracias a capacidades desarrolladas previamente. El mayor desafío al que se enfrenta una sociedad superenvejecida no es el aumento del número de personas mayores, sino el posible incremento acelerado de quienes viven con alguna discapacidad. Si los mayores pierden prematuramente su movilidad, sus vínculos sociales y su independencia, incluso los sistemas de salud y de cuidados a largo plazo más completos se verían desbordados.
Por ello, en lugar de destinar la gran mayoría de los recursos a la atención una vez que surge la discapacidad, deberíamos orientar parte de la inversión hacia etapas anteriores. Al fomentar el aprendizaje y la participación mientras las personas gozan de buena salud, podemos ayudar a más individuos a retrasar la aparición de discapacidades y a prolongar su esperanza de vida saludable. No se trata de un gasto de consumo, sino de una inversión pública con beneficios a largo plazo.
Fuente: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2026/09/03/2003863584
AUSTRALIA, GERMANY: RELIABLE PARTNERS IN INDO-PACIFIC
The Australian ambassador designate to Japan and German ambassador to Japan jointly call for a deeper security commitment to support a free and open Indo-Pacific in the following contribution to The Japan News.
Only a few days ago, Japanese and German service personnel trained alongside those from 18 partner and allied nations in Exercise Pitch Black, hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force in Northern Australia. Concluding last weekend, the biennial exercise is one of the largest air force exercises in the Indo-Pacific.
Germany’s third long-distance deployment is a strong signal of its security commitment to the Indo-Pacific. Pitch Black demonstrates cooperation among partners who share an interest in stability, freedom of navigation, open and secure trade routes, international law, interoperability and trust across the Indo-Pacific. We may be geographically distant, but we are closely connected in our commitment to a free and rules-based international order.
Security and prosperity in Europe and the Indo-Pacific are closely intertwined. Developments in one region have direct implications for the other. This is for example illustrated by North Korea’s role in Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and China’s continuing support for Russia’s war machine. Germany, Australia and Japan are key supporters of Ukraine, reflecting a shared commitment to sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea are indispensable for global security and prosperity. The principles of the United Nations Charter, including the prohibition of the use of force, apply universally.
Germany and Australia have elevated our relationship to an Enhanced Strategic Partnership, and we regard Japan as a close and indispensable partner. NATO remains a defensive, Euro-Atlantic alliance, but is committed to cooperation with its Indo-Pacific partners, including Australia and Japan.
Security cooperation goes hand in hand with economic security. Japan is a global frontrunner in economic security policy; together we are reinforcing our capacity to withstand export restrictions, hybrid threats and other forms of coercion. Just like Japan, Germany and Australia are strengthening resilient supply chains for critical minerals, while supporting investment in processing, supply and technological resilience.
As part of a multinational exercise involving more than a dozen partner and allied nations, Exercise Pitch Black demonstrates how Germany and Australia as well as Japan contribute to practical cooperation that puts stability, freedom of navigation and international law front and center and thereby supports a free, open and resilient Indo-Pacific.
AUSTRALIA Y ALEMANIA: SOCIOS FIABLES EN EL INDO-PACÍFICO
El embajador designado de Australia en Japón y el embajador de Alemania en Japón hacen un llamamiento conjunto a favor de un compromiso de seguridad más profundo para apoyar un Indo-Pacífico libre y abierto, a través de la siguiente colaboración para *The Japan News*.
Hace apenas unos días, personal militar de Japón y Alemania participó en ejercicios conjuntos con efectivos de 18 naciones socias y aliadas durante el ejercicio Pitch Black, organizado por la Real Fuerza Aérea Australiana en el norte de Australia. Este ejercicio bienal, que concluyó el pasado fin de semana, es una de las mayores maniobras de fuerzas aéreas en la región del Indo-Pacífico.
El tercer despliegue de larga distancia de Alemania constituye una señal clara de su compromiso de seguridad con el Indo-Pacífico. Pitch Black demuestra la cooperación entre socios que comparten un interés común en la estabilidad, la libertad de navegación, unas rutas comerciales abiertas y seguras, el derecho internacional, la interoperabilidad y la confianza en toda la región. Aunque geográficamente estemos alejados, nos une un estrecho vínculo en nuestro compromiso con un orden internacional libre y basado en normas.
La seguridad y la prosperidad en Europa y en el Indo-Pacífico están estrechamente interconectadas. Los acontecimientos en una región tienen repercusiones directas en la otra. Un ejemplo de ello es el papel de Corea del Norte en la agresión de Rusia contra Ucrania y el continuo apoyo de China a la maquinaria bélica rusa. Alemania, Australia y Japón son aliados clave de Ucrania, lo que refleja un compromiso compartido con la soberanía y la integridad territorial.
La paz y la estabilidad en el estrecho de Taiwán y en el mar de China Meridional son indispensables para la seguridad y la prosperidad mundiales. Los principios de la Carta de las Naciones Unidas, incluida la prohibición del uso de la fuerza, son de aplicación universal.
Fuente: https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/editorial/outside-contributors/20260814-343261/
THE JAPANESE IDEALIST BEHIND THE ONLY FOREING DERADICALIZATION PROGRAM IN SOMALIA
Nairobi – Yosuke Nagai was an idealistic teenager who wanted to help war-torn Somalia. He now runs the only foreign-funded reintegration program for Islamist fighters still operating in the country.
Nagai was just 19 when he set up a program for Somali students in 2011 aimed at tackling the root causes of the brutal insurgency waged in their country by the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab.
By 2013, he had established a program to rehabilitate Somali gang members, and three years later, that led to a collaboration with Somalia’s government on reintegrating former members of al-Shabab.
His teachers had tried to dissuade him, saying it was “freaking super dangerous,“ as he puts it.
“I was like, OK, fine. But what are you doing to help?” he recalled.
His nongovernmental organization, Accept International, has since worked with 1,700 imprisoned al-Shabab fighters and 250 defectors, and expanded to Yemen, the Palestinian territories, Indonesia, and elsewhere.
With Washington and other donors reducing much of their aid to Somalia, it has become effectively the only foreign agency still working on deradicalization.
Funded by donations in Japan, Nagai has 17 people working in prisons and a center for defectors in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, plus 15 at a rehabilitation center in Dhusamareb, capital of Galmudug state.
They can be aggressive workplaces.
“We do counselling and Islamic education for defectors and prisoners. Al-Shabab prisoners are more radicalized. They sometimes say negative things to us like: ’Hey infidels, I will kill you,’” said Nagai.
But the success stories make it worthwhile, he said, highlighting people who became tailors, traffic police, or soldiers in the national army.
Nagai avoids the term “deradicalization,“ preferring to talk about “empowerment.“ He is convinced the rehab program can turn fighters into “agents of peace.”
It lasts about a year and focuses on vocational skills such as carpentry and basic education. Around a third are illiterate, said Nagai, which has made them “vulnerable to brainwashing.”
Among the successes is Nur Ali, 32, an ex-insurgent who now runs the nongovernmental organization’s prison programs. He joined al-Shabab at 17, when government forces killed his brother. After a few months in their ranks, he was captured and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
It was there he met Nagai, accompanied by a religious leader who told him that “things are better and more positive when you forgive,“ Ali said by phone from Mogadishu.
“Young people need education. They need to be guided,” he said, adding that many ex-combatants now “take me as an example to change their lives.”
Al-Shabab still controls much of central Somalia and is deeply embedded in society, which often makes it hard for members to leave.
Nagai recalls a 21-year-old who fled the group just as he was about to become a suicide bomber. The program was working — he was “very social, he loved talking to me” — but then Nagai discovered he had left to rejoin al-Shabab under pressure from his father, a supporter of the insurgents.
“That is one of the realities,” Nagai said.
Deradicalization — once a top priority at the height of what is called the West’s “War on Terror” — has been largely abandoned as donors have lost faith in the Somali government’s efforts.
The United Nations supported Somalia’s reintegration programs from 2013 to 2024 but stopped funding them in 2025. Its final report said “the limited information the U.N. and international actors had regarding key aspects of the process contributed to a loss of donor confidence.”
The United States, the biggest donor to Somalia, did not respond to questions about whether it had funded such programs.
When the Somali government retakes an area from al-Shabab, it often sends in religious scholars to challenge its extremist rhetoric.
But its reintegration programs are woefully underfunded, said Martine Zeuthen, who wrote a report on the topic for the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank.
Centers for ex-fighters have limited food and are rife with disease, she said. Corruption and government infighting have made things worse.
The government did not respond to requests for comment.
“When the government is fighting a war like this, these people are rarely the priority,” Zeuthen said. “When there’s no international focus on these people, it has a negative impact on trying to encourage more people to leave.”
That leaves Nagai and his organization as effectively the only agency still trying to help with ex-insurgents.
“There have been some international organizations or U.N. agencies supporting them, but now it’s over. Now, we are filling the gap,” said Nagai.
Some are very grateful. Abdullahi, 29, says he only joined al-Shabab in desperation because he was promised $5,000. He never received the money and found life with the insurgents “horrible.”
He says others would quit the group if there were more centers like Dhusamareb, where he has been learning English and tailoring skills since fleeing al-Shabab in January.
“There are a lot of people who want to defect, but they don’t know where to go,” said Abdullahi.
EL JAPONÉS IDEALISTA DETRÁS DEL ÚNICO PROGRAMA EXTRANJERO DE DESRADICALIZACIÓN EN SOMALIA
Nairobi – Yosuke Nagai era un adolescente idealista que quería ayudar a una Somalia devastada por la guerra. Ahora dirige el único programa de reintegración financiado por el extranjero para combatientes islamistas que sigue operando en el país.
Nagai tenía solo 19 años cuando puso en marcha un programa para estudiantes somalíes en 2011, destinado a abordar las causas profundas de la brutal insurgencia que libraba en su país el grupo Al-Shabab, vinculado a Al-Qaeda.
Para 2013, había establecido un programa para rehabilitar a miembros de pandillas somalíes y, tres años más tarde, esa iniciativa condujo a una colaboración con el gobierno de Somalia para reintegrar a exmiembros de Al-Shabab.
Sus profesores habían intentado disuadirlo, advirtiéndole que era algo “extremadamente peligroso”, según sus propias palabras.
“Yo pensaba: ‘Vale, está bien. Pero ¿qué están haciendo ustedes para ayudar?'”, recordó.
Desde entonces, su organización no gubernamental, Accept International, ha trabajado con 1.700 combatientes de Al-Shabab encarcelados y 250 desertores, además de expandir sus operaciones a Yemen, los territorios palestinos, Indonesia y otros lugares.
Dado que Washington y otros donantes han reducido gran parte de su ayuda a Somalia, la organización se ha convertido, en la práctica, en la única entidad extranjera que sigue trabajando en la desradicalización.
Gracias a donaciones procedentes de Japón, Nagai cuenta con un equipo de 17 personas que trabajan en prisiones y en un centro para desertores en Mogadiscio, la capital de Somalia, además de otras 15 personas en un centro de rehabilitación en Dhusamareb, capital del estado de Galmudug.
Fuente: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/09/02/japan/society/japan-ngo-somalia/
Published twice per week by Nuevo Poder. Articles and op-eds focusing on geopolitical issues around Indo-Pacific area
Editor: LW, senior fellow of REDCAEM and CESCOS
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