Lawmakers across party lines yesterday criticized the Ministry of National Defense (MND) for a lapse in security after a man on Thursday climbed over the wall around the ministry building, live-streaming the incident on the Internet for nearly 10 minutes before he was detained.
The man, surnamed Wu (吳), livestreamed the incident on Facebook, showing him walking in front of the Heng Shan Military Command Center’s gates.
Wu left the premises after a guard yelled at him.
Wu walked along the wall to the back of the ministry building and climbed over it.
He wandered around inside the ministry compound and pretended to be a new recruit when he met a staffer.
After nine minutes, at about 3:10pm, he was detained by military police and taken to Dazhi (大直) police station, the ministry said.
He reportedly said during the livestream that he was going to assassinate Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬).
Police said that Wu lives in the neighborhood and has a record of mental illness.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said the ministry might want to have marines stationed at the compound.
“If the ministry cannot even protect its headquarters, how can we expect it to protect the president?” he said.
The legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee is scheduled to conduct an overall review of national defense and military discipline, and the minister should be prepared to field questions about the security lapse, said Chiang, a committee member.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應), also a committee member, said there are several kinds of security measures carried out by sensitive military bases: “It could be high walls, around-the-clock CCTV surveillance or constant patrolling. I have no idea which one the ministry is using for its security.”
Committee member DPP Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) demanded that the ministry investigate the incident and mete out punishments.
“The ministry’s office building is the most significant national security compound, behind which is the command center, so its security has to be extremely rigorous. There has to be someone held accountable for this, as it not only concerns public safety, but also national security,” Lo said.
Additional reporting by Aaron Tu, Wang Kuan-jen and Liu Ching-hou
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