The Executive Yuan this month passed 22 amendments aimed at toughening penalties for damaging critical infrastructure, while it also seeks to expand the National Police Agency’s Second Special Police Corps.
The bills, approved by the Cabinet on April 6, have passed a first reading and have been delivered to the legislature’s five committees for review.
Among them is an amendment to the Nuclear Emergency Response Act (核子事故緊急應變法) that would classify attacks on nuclear facilities as physical or virtual, and add penalties based on the type of crime and level of harm done.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
A recently released report by the Legislative Research Bureau on enhancing nuclear threat response and protection called for cross-ministerial and regional risk assessments, as well as drills simulating complex nuclear threats, such as responding to a nuclear plant affected by a tsunami.
The report said the act should be amended to require periodic drills to improve crisis response, adaptation and protection abilities, and also encourage resource integration.
The Cabinet is also planning to expand the Second Special Police Corps to 4,000 officers in an effort to safeguard more than 500 critical infrastructure sites, sources said yesterday.
The Second Special Police Corps is responsible for protecting nuclear power plants and science parks, while the Seventh Special Police Corps is responsible for the safety of financial institutes and reservoirs.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) said that if critical infrastructure has been maliciously attacked and damaged, it would cause panic and attract international attention, especially with the presidential election approaching next year.
The bills need to be passed in the first half of this year, and the expansion of the Second Special Police Corps should be achieved by hiring new officers, to avoid increasing the burden on other police units, Lai said.
Protecting critical infrastructure should be supported across party lines, DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said.
The Cabinet should seek to build a consensus in the legislature to ensure the bills pass, Wang said.
To improve the safety of critical infrastructure, the government needs to expand the special police corps, and provide it with better training and equipment, he said.
Institute for National Defense and Security Research postdoctoral researcher Hsu Chih-hsiang (許智翔) said that expanding the Second Special Police Corps and giving them basic military training is part of preparing for a worst-case scenario, and provides more units that have police and basic military capabilities.
With the armed forces next year to require one year of mandatory military service, conscripts would be required to form garrisons, led by volunteer enlisted soldiers, not only for territorial defense, but to protect military and civilian facilities, he said.
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