Defense officials announced yesterday that the military is willing to open two top-security islets that are part of the frontline Kinmen (
Major General Kung Fan-ding (
The project cannot get started, Kung said, before the Kinmen County Government has completed necessary preparations such as filing a formal application to lift military control of the two islets.
If the project can be implemented as planned, Tatan and Erhtan will become the second batch of military island strongholds to be opened to the public in recent years.
The Pratas Islands (
The opening of Tatan and Erhtan is set to follow the Pratas model, beginning with CGA marine police replacing troops currently stationed there.
"Minister of National Defense and Premier-designate Tang Fei (唐飛) has given approval for the plan. But the military does not plan to withdraw all of its troops stationed on the two islets because a small number of troops are still needed to take care of certain heavy equipment there," Kung said.
Kung did not identify what kinds of heavy equipment are on the islets, but defense officials speaking privately have said arms include tanks, artillery, and anti-aircraft missiles.
Tatan and Erhtan lie close to each other and suffered heavy bombardment during the 1958 artillery shelling of the Kinmen Island group by China.
Several battalions of troops heavily armed with cannons and missiles are stationed on Erhtan, the smaller of the pair.
A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said although most of the troops on the two islets will pull out, the automated self-defense weapon systems there can be maintained and operated by only a small number of people.
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