As tension soars, Taiwan prepares its air-raid shelters – from the subway to shopping malls

Taipei has more than 4,600 designated shelters in underground spaces like car parks and shopping centres for people to use if Beijing attacks

Officials have put their whereabouts on a smartphone app and launched a campaign to make sure people know how to find the closest one

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Residents take cover in an underground shelter during an air-raid drill in Taipei on July 25. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 3:22pm, 2 Aug 2022

Taiwan is preparing its air-raid shelters as rising tension with Beijing and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raise new fears about the possibility of a People’s Liberation Army attack on the democratic island.

Beijing considers Taiwan its territory and has increased military activity in the air and seas around it. Taiwan vows to defend itself and has made strengthening its defences a priority, with regular military and civil defence drills.

The preparations include designating shelters where people can take cover if PLA missiles start flying in, not in purpose-built bunkers but in underground spaces like basement car parks, the subway system and subterranean shopping centres.

The capital of Taipei has more than 4,600 such shelters that can accommodate some 12 million people, more than four times its population.

Commuters take an escalator in an underground subway station in Taipei that will be used as an air-raid shelter in the event of an attack. Photo: Reuters

Harmony Wu, 18, was surprised to learn that an underground shopping concourse where she and other youngsters were recently rehearsing some dance moves would be turned into an air-raid shelter in the event of war.