The New Taipei City Government on Tuesday began to evaluate the heritage status of a World War II bunker in Bali District (八里), after advocates urged the municipality to preserve it by stopping the construction of the Tamkang Bridge (淡江大橋).
Wei Yi-an (魏以恩), administrator of the Taiwan War History Facebook group, said a friend told him that construction workers had discovered the bunker, the only three-decked, reinforced artillery position believed to still exist.
The steel-reinforced concrete bunker, which was built in 1944, has underground structures that support a field artillery casemate, which the Republic of China Army took over and used for a time after the war, he said.
Photo provided by Facebook group Taiwan War History
The fortification was part of the integrated defensive zone built by the Japanese Imperial Army to defend the Port of Keelung, Wei added.
The bunker was equipped with running water, an unusual luxury by wartime standards, indicating that it was designed to withstand a prolonged battle.
The group was disappointed to learn from a site supervisor that the bunker was slated for demolition, Wei said.
Photo provided by Facebook group Taiwan War History
“The city’s progress should not come at the cost of sacrificing our historical heritage,” he said.
The New Taipei City Cultural Affairs Department said that highway officials and academics would inspect the bunker as part of the heritage status review.
The bridge across the Tamsui River (淡水河), construction of which began in March, would save commuters 45 minutes of travel time, the government said.
The bridge gained notoriety following significant delays as the city failed seven times to attract bidders for the project.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
RSS