The new Ministry of National Defense headquarters complex was officially opened yesterday in Taipei’s Dazhi area (大直), touted by senior military figures and government officials as having state-of-the-art security installations and adopting a “green building concept.”
The main building consists of eight floors, along with several annex buildings. Construction started in 1996, and has taken 18 years to complete, as the project was delayed due to several problems and legal wrangling.
In his address, Minister of National Defense Yen Ming (嚴明), who presided over the opening ceremony yesterday, said the complex represents “a new milestone,” and from now on the Dazhi area with the relocated ministry and armed forces headquarters has become the “new Boai Military District” (博愛營區).
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Ministry of National Defense Armaments Bureau section head Huang Te-hsiao (黃德孝) said the new complex incorporates “green building concepts” with environmentally friendly, energy-saving designs.
“The new buildings have rainwater harvesting facilities. Up to 1,000 tonnes of rainwater can be stored on site. There are also wastewater treatment and filtering systems,” said Huang, whose section was in charge of constructing the water system.
He added that by using aluminum and other materials in the exterior glass-wall design, “we are able to reduce thermal heating from direct sunlight by blocking out most infrared and low-frequency radiation.”
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Huang also praised the state-of-the-art security system and safety measures of the new complex, calling them “more advanced and powerful than those of the Pentagon,” without elaborating.
He said all personnel and vehicles entering and exiting the ministry buildings must go through security checkpoints, at which their identification cards are verified against photographs and a biometric identification system.
“Each individual and vehicle must have a file on the security database. The digital informatics system can verify their identity within seconds,” Huang said. “On high-security floors, individuals are checked with fingerprint and eye scanners.”
After numerous delays to the project, some legislators and public officials were severely critical of budget overruns, which ballooned to NT$15.8 billion (US$497.65 million).
Although President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was invited to the opening ceremony, he did not attend.
According to media reports, Ma did not attend because votes by military personnel and their dependents failed to materialize for the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidates in last month’s nine-in-one elections.
Meanwhile, family members of several soldiers who died during their service in the military protested outside the new compound, demanding more transparency in investigations into physical abuse in the military.
Carrying portraits of deceased soldiers, protesting parents and their supporters decried what they said was the military’s disregard for human rights.
The protest was led by the parents of four soldiers who died while serving, which included conscripts for mandatory service, as well as voluntary servicemen.
Members of the Taiwan National Party also showed their support.
Yu Jui-ming (尤瑞敏), the mother of Tsai Hsueh-liang (蔡學良), an air force staff sergeant who died during target practice in 2008, said the military has not revealed the truth.
While military investigators said that Tsai committed suicide, Yu said their report contradicts case evidence.
She staged a hunger strike in May, urging a ballistics test.
“Taiwan is not at war right now; nobody’s son should die in the military,” Yu said. “I do not understand how the ministry has the nerve to spend so much taxpayer money on this new ‘palace.’”
“Each death is like a brick. When you stack them up together, they will be much stronger than the walls of this compound,” Lin Ming-i’s (林明逸) father said, adding that his son died from military hospital malpractice in 2002.
Parents of dead soldiers are demanding answers, Lin’s father said.
“It is very difficult for the parents, but we will no longer sulk in the shadows. More are joining our search for the truth,” he added.
Family members of army sergeant Lien Chih-wei (連志偉) and substitute civilian serviceman Chen Chun-ming (陳俊銘), who passed away in 2005 and 2012 respectively, also attended the protest.
Ministry statistics last year showed that 2,088 men and women died in service between 2000 and 2012, although parents say the number is much higher.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —