Team:Edinburgh/mapxmltaiwan



Taiwan <![CDATA[Taiwan laid landmines during the 1950s on its two largest offshore islands, Kinmen and Matsu (Lian Jiang county), as well as on a number of smaller uninhabited islands, because of their proximity to China. The Ministry of National Defense stated in March 2004 that some of the minefields on Kinmen, Matsu, and Dong Yin islands would be “gradually” cleared once alternative weapons became available. In May 2006, a senior National Defense official told Landmine Monitor there were “more than 200” minefields on the offshore islands.

Kinmen county (a group of islands) is the most heavily mined region. The county government has reported that 80% of Kinmen’s coastlines are mined and that the army had emplaced large numbers of mines on surrounding islands, including Dadan, Erdan, and Lieyu (Little Kinmen).

Fires in mined areas of Kinmen Island’s Shagang and Kinmen Cheng forests in September and October 2006 triggered mine explosions. On 17 October 2007, another forest fire in Shagang triggered 12 mine explosions, including up to three antivehicle mines. One of the antivehicle mine explosions damaged a village government building but no casualties occurred.

In 2007 and to May 2008, media or official sources did not report any new landmine/ERW casualties in Taiwan. The last reported casualties occurred in 2005 when two Zimbabwean deminers were killed and one was injured.

Taiwan does not have a mine/ERW casualty data collection mechanism but at least 115 mine survivors made successful compensation claims to the Ministry of National Defense.[58]

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