TAIPEI – When a young man pulled smoke grenades from a bag in the middle of a busy Taipei road and lobbed them at shoppers on the pavement, some passersby scuttled away but many more just stood watching.
Earlier, commuters at an underground station walked unhurriedly through the smoke from the grenades, many not bothering to cover their mouths and noses.
But Zhang Wen, 27, did not just hurl smoke grenades during the Friday after-work rush hour on Dec 19.
Wielding a long knife, he went on a rampage through central Taipei,
leaving three people dead and at least nine injured.
A day after the attack, many Taiwanese are still reeling from shock.
Violent crime is very rare in Taiwan, lulling many into a sense of complacency.
The capital’s metro system, where the perpetrator chose to strike, is widely lauded for being safe and orderly, although it has seen a number of one-off subway attacks in the past, including a deadly 2014 incident where a university student killed four people and injured more than 20.
That assumption of safety has now been shaken. One question has begun to surface: how was Zhang, a Taiwanese who previously served as an Air Force volunteer, able to move through the city for hours, carrying out the attacks without being stopped?
The apparent obliviousness of some of the people in the vicinity has only deepened the unease.
Amid the heaving crowds, people seemed unaware that others were being slashed. The casual, calm way in which Zhang tossed the smoke grenades may have also confused onlookers into thinking that there was no imminent danger.
“Taiwanese people are too used to a comfortable life,” a Facebook user wrote. Another lamented: “we really have no sense of a crisis”.
Police say that around two hours before Zhang began his violent spree at Taipei Main Station, he had already damaged two cars and three motorbikes along Linsen North Road and started a fire in the balcony of his rented apartment in Zhongzheng District.
At about 5.30pm, he walked to Taipei Main station, donned a gas mask and calmly pulled smoke grenades from a wheeled suitcase and threw them at one of the station’s busiest exits. A 57-year-old man surnamed Yu who tried to stop him was stabbed, and later died from his injuries.
Zhang then went into a nearby hotel, where he stayed for more than half an hour and allegedly replenished his supply of smoke grenade. Police later found that he had checked into a room there two days earlier, where they found 25 Molotov cocktails inside.
He emerged at around 6.30pm near Zhongshan Station, one of Taipei’s most popular shopping districts, this time with knee and wrist guards, and threw several more smoke grenades into the road. The entire time, he showed cold-blooded calm.
He then ran across the road and into a shopping mall, randomly slashing with a long knife as he runs. He later died after falling from the top floor of the building following a police chase.
Online, many social media users noted how ludicrous it was that Zhang had not been stopped much earlier. They questioned the slow actions of the police and why so many observers had not done more to in helping to stop him, or warned others to stay away.
The irony is that Taiwan has actively sought to boost the island’s readiness in dealing with large-scale crises, including major disasters or conflict.
In 2024, President Lai Ching-te launched the whole-of-society defence strategy, which aims to strengthen civilian preparedness in the face heightened military aggression from Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its territory.
For years, Taiwan has also carried out annual air-raid and civil defence drills, where residents are legally required by law to stay off the streets and hide indoors and underground for a set amount of time.
After covering such drills for the past three years, however, I’ve noticed that many people tend not to take it seriously. Air-raid drills are usually set at lunchtime, and I have spotted office workers sipping on bubble tea and chatting gregariously indoors while awaiting the all-clear signal to go out again.
Attacks at metro stations in Taipei on Dec 19 involving smoke bombs and stabbing killed three people.
PHOTO: AFP
The impression I get is that people go about their lives as if nothing bad would ever happen to them. I suspect many would not be able to pinpoint evacuation routes or use a fire extinguisher if the time ever comes.
Since the 2014 subway attack, Taipei Metro plays instructional videos on loop inside carriages to show passengers how to defend themselves against attackers using available items such as backpacks, umbrellas or thick jackets.
But most commuters pay no heed to these videos, engrossed instead in their mobile phones. Perhaps, having it seen it too many times before, they are simply desensitised.
Taiwan offers exceptional daily security and comfort, and that is something that Taiwanese can be proud of. But people need to snap out of their sense of complacency – we must remain vigilant without letting fear take over.
For a start, that could mean thinking about how they would put into practice what they see in the metro self-defence videos.
For years, safety in Taiwan has been taken for granted. Maybe it shouldn’t be.
