Contamination and Impact

Taiwan’s mine contamination was a result of military emplacement of mines on the beaches and coastline of the islands of Kinmen and Matsu to resist possible invasion from China. These have been largely cleared. Taiwan also has unexploded ordnance (UXO) resulting from Chinese artillery bombardments that continued until the 1970s.

Mines

In June 2008, the Ministry of National Defense announced that it had identified 154 minefields covering approximately 3.4km² in Kinmen County and 154 minefields covering approximately 0.4km² in Matsu.[1] The army reported that it had cleared all of Matsu’s 154 mined areas in April 2011[2] and announced in June 2013 that the 154 known mined areas in Kinmen County had been cleared by the end of 2012.[3]

However, the army continued to investigate land outside the known minefields and found “drifted” and scattered mines at 53 locations on Kinmen and 57 locations on Matsu. In February 2012, the ministry said it had found five scattered mine hazards covering 54,317 m² in Wu-chiou, an area of Kinmen under the control of the Navy in addition to other areas of both Kinmen and Matsu.[4]

Other explosive remnants of war

Taiwan is affected to a lesser extent by UXO left from conflicts dating back to World War II or before—some of it too old to identify—as well as from more recent military training.[5] Items cleared in 2011 included mainly aircraft bombs, mortars, and hand grenades.[6] Contamination is not believed to include cluster munition remnants.

Mine Action Program

Key institutions and operators

The Antipersonnel Landmines Regulations Act that came into effect in June 2006 required the Ministry of National Defense to disclose the location of all minefields and to complete clearance of all mines within seven years (by 2013).[7] Under the Regulations on Eradication of Antipersonnel Landmines in Minefield published by the Ministry of National Defense in January 2008, the ministry is the national mine action authority responsible for setting policy, approving programs and annual plans, and for monitoring the safety and environmental impact of demining. The army is responsible for implementing policy. It prepares mine action plans, arranges funding, and calls for tenders, as well as coordinating, implementing, and reviewing operations.[8]

The regulations required the Ministry of National Defense to give top demining priority to land needed for development, followed by regions that are not militarily sensitive, and lastly “military surveillance regions” where the ministry considered Taiwan needed alternative forms of defense.[9] However, officials reported in 2012 that all land required for development had already been cleared and that all remaining mined areas would be cleared by the end of that year.[10]

Land Release

After six years of organized demining, in 2012 Taiwan completed clearance of recorded minefields; however, the ADD continued to investigate and clear locations affected by scattered mines and UXO.[11]

Summary of clearance[12]

Mine clearance in 2012

The ADD completed clearance of known mined areas in Kinmen in 2012 after demining a total of 259,027m²and destroying 7,404 mines, of which 5,240 were antipersonnel mines.[13] Most of the land was released to the Kinmen County government and Kinmen National Park.[14]

Mined area clearance in 2012[15]

ADD, however, has continued to survey land outside the known mined areas it has cleared, following reports of the presence of scattered mines or mines that migrated beyond their perimeters. ADD conducted clearance in two phases. In the first phase, ADD investigated up to 30 meters beyond the perimeter of known mined hazards; in the second, it created a grid map and checked each grid square. ADD identified a total of 110 locations with mines in Kinmen (53 locations, apart from Wu-chiou) and Matsu (57 locations). It completed clearance of the Kinmen locations in May 2013 and the Matsu locations in June 2013.[16] The army expected to complete the process of checking Wu-chiou in 2013.[17]

Clearance of mined areas outside recorded minefields[18]