Returning to Taiwan from Japan after World War II, Taiwanese author Eikan Kyu (邱永漢) wrote about what he saw when he disembarked at Keelung.
“There was an overturned submarine lying by the quay in front of the railroad station, stranded like a beached whale, its belly protruding from the water; most of the nearby buildings had been decimated,” Kyu wrote in Choshui River: Selected Short Stories of Eikan Kyu (濁水溪：邱永漢短篇小說選).
From his description, this Japanese submarine berthed in the Port of Keelung had been destroyed by Allied fighters.
In November 1974, General Chiang Wei-kuo (蔣緯國), then the vice president of the Tri-service University, invited Oskar Munzel, a former German major general acting as chief consultant to the “Ming-teh-Gruppe” training Republic of China (ROC) military officers in Germany, to visit Taiwan and participate in a seminar with representatives of major units of the ROC armed forces to discuss the best way to defend Taiwan.
Munzel delivered a speech on what should be prioritized strategically to safeguard Taiwan and the outlying islands. The German army was restricted in its operations by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, but senior military personnel were still allowed to use their experience to provide consultations to the ROC military.
Munzel emphasized the importance of moving government agencies, military command centers, naval and air force bases, supply depots and coastal defense equipment and facilities underground. The ROC military proceeded to construct underground installations to house major equipment and facilities, most likely as a direct result of Munzel’s recommendations.
The project that most people would be familiar with is the Chiashan Air Force Base, construction of which began in the 1980s, to create extensive underground hangars in Hualien County. The construction lasted seven years, with the physical infrastructure completed in January 1992. At the time, it was the largest underground construction project in the Far East, and is now one of the most important facilities for ensuring that the armed forces are protected.
According to media reports, in 1988, when two Dutch-made Hailung-class Sea Dragon submarines arrived from the Netherlands, the Ministry of National Defense started looking for a suitable cave in which to build a submarine base. However, the project was abandoned due to difficulties finding a suitable location and because the Netherlands did not sell any more of the submarines to Taiwan.
It was recently reported that a major obstacle to Taiwan’s indigenous submarine program had been overcome, with export licenses for certain “red zone” military technologies — imported technologies that the nation is unable to research and develop, or manufacture itself — having been approved by the US, clearing the way for a prototype of the indigenous submarine to be launched in September next year.
Having underwater military strength would surely boost Taiwan’s national defense capabilities and public morale. While the public digest this positive news, they must also remain aware of the threat from the skies, as they have seen in the war in Ukraine and the frequent incursions by Chinese jets constantly remind them of. This kind of threat is what Munzel warned the ROC military about decades ago.
Taiwan must waste no time in preparing a safe and proper home for the submarines soon to be added to the ranks of the nation’s armed forces.
Sung Chi-cheng is an assistant professor at Shih Hsin University’s Center for General Education and a former colonel instructor at National Defense University’s War College.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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