Terrorism fears mount in Taiwan

Though the US has warned Taiwan twice about the possibility of a terrorist attack, Taiwan is still unprepared for such an event.

As a partner in the US anti-terrorism campaign, Taiwan could be a target for international terrorists among the Southeast Asian countries. But while the government has actively voiced its support of the US anti-terrorism campaign since the Sept. 11 attacks, it hasn't allotted any money to combat terrorism in Taiwan nor has it passed any regulations governing the prevention or prosecution of terrorist activity and coordination among the related departments is weak.

PFP Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said that "All of the government departments related to the anti-terrorism campaign are unaware of what other departments are doing. Promoting coordination among different departments is the most urgent mission for the government."

According to a poll conducted by the China Times, one of Taiwan's leading Chinese-language dailies, 40 percent of the respondents said that they are worried about a terrorist attack on Taiwan, while 46 percent of the respondents said that they are not confident of the government's anti-terrorism preparation. The poll was conducted on Oct. 16, four days after the Bali bomb incident. The survey was conducted by telephone and had 800 respondents.

Five main government departments -- the National Security Council (NSC), the Ministry of National Defense (MND), the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) -- are coordinating the nation's anti-terrorism efforts.

PFP Legislator Shen Chih-hwei (沈智慧) said that none of these departments have money allocated for counter terrorism efforts in this year's budget proposal.

The NSC is in charge of coordinating the four ministries, but it has been failed to do so, Lin said. The MOI's National Police Administration, National Fire Administration and Bureau of Immigration are in charge of safeguarding domestic security, while the MOJ is collecting intelligence information and the MOFA is working on cooperating with the international community.

Presidential Secretary-General Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟) told the legislature that there are 30,000 law enforcement officers working to counter terrorism in Taiwan.

At a PFP-organized breakfast Friday, representatives from the defense ministry and information ministry both said that, in the event of an emergency, the military and police forces will cooperate.

"It's not even clear which department would be entitled to give orders to the two ministries if an emergency occurred," Lin said.

The information ministry's 70,000 policemen are beefing up security measures at the airports, bus and railway stations, nuclear power plants, diplomatic bases, sea ports and places frequently visited by foreigners.

The justice ministry is planning to introduce a new regulation to counter terrorism, which would entitle authorities to investigate and arrest anyone suspected of engaging in terrorist activities, and might authorize the government to establish an independent department devoted to counter-terrorism.

According to government officials, Taiwan was warned twice of possible attacks over the past two months. The MOFA's Houston office in the US received an e-mail on Sept. 23, warning that Taiwan could be one of the potential targets in the Asia-Pacific area for a terrorist attack.