Republic of China Military Police
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| Republic of China Military Police | |
|---|---|
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| Active | 1913 - Present |
| Country |  Republic of China |
| Branch | Military Police |
| Size | 12,000 (2004 est.) |
| Part of | Republic of China Military |
| Garrison/HQ | Taipei City, Taiwan |
| Anniversaries | December 12th |
| Engagements | Northern Expedition Xi'an Incident Second Sino-Japanese War Chinese Civil War |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
General He Yung-chien (何雍堅) |
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This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters. |
The Republic of China Military Police (traditional Chinese: zh:中華民國憲兵; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó Xiànbīng) is a military police body under the Ministry of National Defense. Unlike military police in many other countries, ROCMP is a separate branch of the ROC Armed Forces.
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[edit] History
[edit] Warlords Era
The Republic of China Military Police dated back to 1914. When the provisional president of Republic of China, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, took the office in Guangzhou, an internal security unit was established to enforce military discipline among the troops loyal to the Republic of China Provisional Government. This unit was later renamed Military Police and would gradually expands and become present-day Republic of China Military Police. In 1925, under the supervision of then general Chiang Kai-shek, the military police was expanded from a single company to a full battalion, and was attached to the Northern Expedition Forces the next year. In the next ten years, the military police gradually expanded into several regiments, and was active in purging the communist elements within the Nationalist government.
[edit] Xi'an Incident
On December 12, 1936, while accompanied Chiang Kai-shek on an inspection trip to Xi'an, members of Military Police clashed with Zhang Xueliang's elite bodyguards when the latter were sent to arrest the generalissimo. The military police were caught off guard and out numbered, and were soon overpowered by Zhang's force, who later arrested Chiang and his entourage in what is later known as the Xi'an Incident. More than one hundred military police became casualties in the brief battle. However, to commemorate the heroic actions of the Military Police, Chiang ordered December 12 to be the Military Police Day. This holiday is no longer observed by the Republic of China government.
[edit] World War Two and Civil War
During China's fight against Japan, the Military Police sometimes found themselves clashing with the Japanese despite the fact that they were neither trained nor equipped for such tasks. In the January 28 Incident and Battle of Nanjing in 1932 and 1937, the Military Police put up some fierce resistance against the Japanese forces, and suffered numerous casualties. The Military Police were also instrumental in operations behind Japanese line, and in time continued to expand under the direction of Chiang Kai-shek. Military Police were also active in keeping the influences of the communists at bay, and were successful at quelling an attempted insurrection by the communists in 1941. The last task of the Military Police in the war was to provide escort to the Japanese delegates to arrange the surrender.
Full scale civil war broke out in 1946 between the Nationalists and the Communists; however, the Military Police were not as active in combat as they once were in the war against Japan. The Military Police were tasked to protect important governmental facilities from sabotages as well as political figures from assassinations. Furthermore, the Military Police were involved in suppressing civil unrests in the newly acquired territories of Taiwan. The Military Police headquarter was moved to Taipei, Taiwan in 1950 following the defeat on mainland and evacuation to Taiwan.
[edit] Taiwan
In 1970, under the advice from the US Military Mission to Taiwan, Taiwan Armed Forces reorganized all their regiments into brigades. On 16th March 1970, the Military Police Command formed up four regional commands from the original military police regiments: 201st regional command from the 101st Military Police regiment for presidential guards, 202nd from the 201st MP regiment for capital garrison, 203rd from the 202nd MP regiment in Miaoli, and 204th from the 203rd MP regiment in Tainan.
In January 2006, all ten security battalions under the Republic of China Air Force were transferred to the Military Police Command.
[edit] Functions
From the 2006 National Defense Report, Taiwan Military Police performs
- Military functions:
- special security duties, including presidential protection,
- counter-terrorism operations,
- garrison security,
- enforce military discipline,
- support military operations,
- Supportive functions in civilian affairs:
- execute military justice and law enforcement missions,
- maintain public security,
- adequately support regional disaster prevention,
- response, and ensure social stability and national security.
[edit] Military
ROCMP is responsible for enforcing military law, maintaining military discipline, providing manpower support for the civilian police force, performing combat duty in times of emergency, providing security for certain governmental facilities such as including the Presidential Palace, and performing counter-terrorism and VIP protection operations. It is also responsible for the defense of Taipei, the capital city and political and financial center of Taiwan.
[edit] Intelligence
Due to traditional and historical reasons, Taiwan Military Police still carry out intelligence missions in six categories of Security Investigations to fulfill its tasked functions:
- Special Services for presidential security and protection
- Politics
- Military
- Criminal Cases
- Foreign Affair
- Social Order
These Security Investigations are mainly run by every regional investigation group, the mobile investigation group, and their superior unit: Intelligence Division of the Military Police Command. The main goal of these six Security Investigations is centered at the first one: Special Services for presidential security and protection. More practically, it is to satisfy the request from the Commander in Chiefs, the Taiwan President.
While performing its intelligence missions, Taiwan Military Police is submitted to the supervisory and coordination from National Security Bureau of National Security Council.
[edit] Law enforcement
In accordance with; Clause 2, Section 1 of Article 229; Clause 2, Section 1 of Article 230; and Clause 2, Section 1 of Article 231 of The Criminal Procedure Code of the ROC, the commissioned and non-commissioned officers, and the enlisted persons of the MP Corps have the authority to assist public prosecutors or to be commanded by prosecutors to investigate crime activities. In the other words, performing the authority of Judicial Police are given by The Criminal Procedure Code of the ROC to the Security MP troops in the regional Military Police units, and it is the same in nature as the polices performing the actual criminal investigations. Before the establishment and expansion of the mobile forces of special police corps in Taiwan, Military Police troops are the main forces to secure and prevent the high-profiled criminal activities, heavy violence, and frequent society disorders or riots. At present, Military Police troops are still aggressively working with and commanded by the district public procurator systems to investigate criminal cases. The Security MP troops are still one of the important forces uphold the law and order of the society in Taiwan.
Because of the frequent military personnel rotation and the conscription system in Taiwan, people within the regional Military Police units are relatively grow less tides with local residents, in comparison with the local police departments. In the cases of prostitutions and human slavery, this makes Taiwan Military Police the preferable law enforcement unit for the public prosecutors of all levels in Taiwan, simply because of the minimal information leakage.
In addition, in cases of fugitive recovery, some public prosecutor would mobilize the military police to handle large-scale searches or arrests because military police can provide massive manpower with good obedience and less gang-related interpersonal relationship.
[edit] Organization
Military Police Command (憲兵司令部) is responsible for all Military Police units and operations. It is subordinate to the Armed Force General Staff, the Minister of National Defense, and the Republic of China President. It includes internal units that are responsible for political warfare, units inspection, personnel, intelligence, operation, logistics, and communication. It is also responsible for the following units and divisions:
- Military Police School (zh:憲兵學校, ja:憲兵学校 (中華民国))
- Military Police Regional Commands (x4) (指揮部)
- Military Police Armor Battalions (x2) (裝甲憲兵營)
- Artillery Battalion (x1) (砲兵營)
- Military Police Battalions (x19) (憲兵營)
- Security Battalions (x10) (警衛營): Specially tasked to guard military air bases or field.
- Regional Military Police Offices (x22) (憲兵隊): It is a battalion-size unit stationed in the urban area.
- Regional Military Police Investigation Groups (x4) (憲兵調查組): Administratively, it belongs to its corresponding regional office; operationally, it is controlled by the intelligence division(G2) of the Military Police Command.[1]
- Forensic Science Center (刑事鑑識中心)
- Chemical Forensic Division (化學鑑識組)
- Physical Forensic Division (物理鑑識組)
- Crime Scene Investigation Division (現場勘查組)
- Military Police Special Services Company, MPSSC (zh:憲兵特勤隊): Code-named Night Hawk.
- Sindian Military Prison, Taipei County (台北新店軍事監獄)
- Lioujia Military Prison, Tainan County (台南六甲軍事監獄)
[edit] Equipments
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[edit] Vehicles
| Model | Origin |
|---|---|
| AM General Humvee |  United States |
| CM-32 Armoured Vehicle | Taiwan |
| Harley-Davidson 883 Sportster | United States |
| V-150 APC | United States |
[edit] Small arms
[edit] Fire support
| Model | Origin |
|---|---|
| M120 120 mm mortar | United States |
| T-75 60mm mortar | Taiwan |
[edit] See also
[edit] References and notes
[edit] External references
- ROC Military Police Command] (Traditional Chinese)
- ROC Military Police Reservist Forum (Traditional Chinese)
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