If a terrorist attack occurred in Taiwan, the military would have some difficulty responding due to its lack of training in counter-terrorism tactics, military analysts warned yesterday.
Terrorists would not need to use a suicide airplane to destroy a major military structure in Taiwan, said Erich Shih (施孝瑋), a military analyst with Defense International magazine.
"Car bombs would be enough for the terrorists to destroy or damage the office building of the Ministry of National Defense. The ministry's building can also be easily broken into if the military police guarding the gates are taken out," Shih said.
"It's ridiculous that the ministry's building has its kitchen on the first floor. The kitchen has a door facing the sidewalk outside. A terrorist could easily cause great damage to the building by throwing a petroleum bomb into its kitchen," he said.
"This shows that the military lacks a sense of crisis as to what kinds of terrorist attacks it could suffer," Shih said.
In response, the ministry said the office portion of the building may not be as easily attacked as some people think.
A defense spokesman said the ministry has a variety of contingency plans, including those for terrorist attacks. He declined, however, to elaborate.
Despite the ministry's remarks, analysts say the military's counter-terrorism capabilities are weak -- which might have fatal consequences in the event of terrorist attacks on the nation.
The military once had several special units responsible for counter-terrorism tasks, but most of these units are no longer trained in counter-terrorism because of a re-assignment of responsibilities in recent years.
The special service unit of the military police is the only unit that is still responsible for counter-terrorism tasks.
Other units in the same category, such as the special service forces of the army and marines, are now responsible only for combat missions.
"Strictly speaking, the special service unit of the military police can not be called a counter-terrorism unit. They can handle only a number of simple counter-terrorism tasks," said Chang Li-teh (
"We need a real professional counter-terrorism unit like Britain's Special Air Service. It's necessary for national security. Terrorist attacks might start to appear in Taiwan after the government opens direct sea and air transportation links with China," Chang said.
Liu Wen-hsiao (
"In the past, China Airlines had the practice of deploying two armed personnel on each of its flights. The practice was aimed at preventing a hijacking. It worked quite well," Liu said.
"I am not saying the military has to send armed soldiers on each passenger plane. I rather suggest the military look for lessons from the past if it really wants to upgrade its counter-terrorism capabilities. It could, for example, help train security personnel for civil aviation companies," Liu said.
"These security personnel can help the military in return if a plane hijacking occurs."
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