The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday announced new dates and times for the annual Wanan (萬安) air raid drill.
“In response to public complaints about our initial plan to carry out a nighttime drill that included a lights-out requirement in northern Taiwan, the drill for northern Taiwan has been rescheduled to the afternoon of Aug. 28,” the MND’s Reserved Forces Command Headquarters chief of staff, Major General Bi Hsueh-wen (畢學文), told a press conference yesterday morning.
Bi said that the drill in eastern Taiwan had been planned for 6am to 6:30am on Aug. 13, but after complaints the MND had decided to reschedule it to between 2pm and 2:30pm on the same day.
Following the rescheduling, Wanan will be carried out between 1pm and 1:30pm in Penghu on Aug. 26, between 2:30pm and 3pm in northern Taiwan on Aug. 28, between 3pm and 3:30pm in Kinmen on Sept. 1, between 9:30am and 10am in central Taiwan on Sept. 9, between 9:30am and 10am in Matsu on Sept. 17 and between 1:30pm and 2pm in southern Taiwan on Sept. 23.
Bi said that the new schedule for the drill was the result of meetings with local government heads.
Asked why the military had changed its plans in the face of public pressure, MND Reserve Forces Affairs Department Director Lieutenant General Wang Hsing-wei (王興尉) said that evening drills would eventually be carried out, “when the MND is ready.”
“We made the change this time because we did not have enough time to promote understanding about the purpose and importance of an evening drill,” he said.
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