The Pingtung County Government last week asked culture and history experts to inspect a former munitions depot in Neipu Township’s (內埔) Laopi Village (老埤), after it was recently discovered.
The munitions storage once served to supply ammunition to the kamikaze pilots of the Special Attack Units of the Imperial Japanese Army, the experts said, adding that it was not only well-preserved, but also of considerable size.
Near the end of World War II in the Pacific theater, the Japanese Empire built up a string of defensive positions stretching from the north to the south of Pingtung to prevent a potential landing by US troops in the south of the island, experts said.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
There were about 20 ammunition depots along the defense line, they said, adding that many of the bunkers had not been found yet.
The experts said they would continue investigating the forgotten bunker cluster of Pingtung with funding provided by the Bureau of Cultural Heritage.
National Pingtung University of Technology and Science secretary-general Yeh Kui-chun (葉桂君) said the university had been given the plot of land by the National Property Administration in 2011 and it had discovered the bunker while inspecting the land with the aim of building an entrepreneurship campus.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
The campus will help locals and students study and establish their own businesses, Yeh said, adding that the university had complied with all of the bureau’s demands to make arrangements for the bunker.
The county government said it is also mulling nominating the Guanshan area in Hengchun Township (恆春) as a cultural asset due to a fortified artillery bunker in the area.
Not as well-known as the Guanshan Scenic Area and the local Earth God Temple, the artillery bunker is located underground next to the Guanshan Scenic Trail.
While visiting the site on Thursday, Pingtung County Bureau of Cultural Affairs Director Wu Chin-fa (吳錦發) said he was amazed at the extensive network of underground tunnels, which the county has said is the largest artillery complex on the island from the Japanese colonial era.
The Republic of China Army took over the complex after World War II and it was eventually abandoned after the army relocated its troops, the county government said.
The structural integrity of the tunnel is still intact and the site was largely devoid of trash due to its relatively hidden location, the county said, adding that some bats had moved in.
Experts surmised that the artillery complex had been constructed after the Japanese forces retreated from Batan Island in the Philippines.
The county government has also visited other abandoned military facilities behind Pingan Temple in Fangshan Township (枋山).
A cultural asset meeting is to be held to discuss the preservation of the “precious relics,” it said.
The county government said it would work with local townships to hopefully repurpose the sites and turn them into tourist attractions.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
RSS