Tainan bridge blast would give all four of Taiwan's army theatres live demolition experience this year

Army engineers in southern Taiwan are preparing to blow up a road bridge in Tainan this week as live training, which would be the army's fourth real bridge demolition this year. According to a notice from the Baihe District Office reported by the Liberty Times, the 8th Army Corps' 54th Engineer Group plans to destroy the Touqianxi Bridge on the South 86 road in Baihe at 09:30 Taipei time on Thursday 12 November.

The demolition is tied to a Tainan City Government project to rebuild the bridge. Pairing military training with local rebuilding work gives the engineers a real bridge to practise on, an approach the army has now used at several sites this year.

Lieutenant General Liu Wei-hsin, commander of the army's Fourth Theater Command, visited the Tainan area on Monday 9 November with his political warfare director and staff section heads to inspect preparations. According to the military's own newspaper, he reviewed the mission plan, the work procedures and the preparations, and gave instructions on the effects of the blast and how to deal with unexpected situations. He told officers to know the site and the task in detail and to plan their contingency measures thoroughly.

Liu said the mission turns a local public works need into a chance for realistic training. He said troops would test bridge demolition procedures at a real site, record detailed data, and use after-action reviews to sharpen their skills and their ability to block an enemy's route. He also told units to put safety first, carry out risk assessments and keep strict control over people and equipment, aiming for no accidents.

The army's record this year has been mixed but improving. The first attempt, at the Shanjin Bridge in Yunlin on 25 March, did not fully achieve the intended results, and the Liberty Times said it became an important lesson for later drills. On 22 September the 6th Army Corps' 53rd Engineer Group demolished the Xizhou No. 3 Bridge in Yilan as planned. On 20 October a combat engineer company of the Hualien-Taitung Defense Command destroyed part of the piers of the Mingli Bridge in Hualien, bringing it down in the planned way.

If the Tainan blast goes as planned, engineer units from all three of the army's corps and from the Hualien-Taitung command will have hands-on bridge demolition experience this year. That would mean every one of the four theatre commands on Taiwan's main island has carried out at least one real bridge demolition in 2026.

The drills matter because cutting key transport routes is part of how Taiwan's army would try to delay an enemy that had landed. Simulated training cannot reproduce the real structure, terrain and working limits that engineers face when they place charges on an actual span. Live demolitions let units find problems, correct their procedures and build confidence that they could cut key routes and delay an enemy advance in wartime.