Taipei - Taiwan's military came under fire from legislators Tuesday for using dummy soldiers to stand guard at an army base in the northern county of Taoyuan. "It is just ridiculous. How can they use dummies to stand guard. Does that mean the military would send dummies to fight in wartime?" said Tsai Huang-liang, parliamentarian of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party.
Taiwanese news media reported that an artillery unit posted dummy soldiers in guard posts at the Taoyan base, raising concerns there could be a manpower shortage.
But Lt Gen Hau Yi-chih, director of joint combat department of the military planning office, denied any shortage of active-duty troops. "Rather, we use the dummy facilities to confuse the enemy in case they take satellite pictures," he said.
But parliamentarian Lin Yu-fang, of the ruling Nationalist Party or Kuomintang, said if the military wants to use dummies, "at least they should use the more realistic ones rather than something that can be instantly told they are fake."
