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Wuchiu, May 17 (CNA) Forces posted on the Republic of China's frontline island of Wuchiu remain on high alert as usual but have not raised their combat readiness amid rumors that Wuchiu will bear the initial brunt of the attack in the event of an attempted PLA military invasion of Taiwan, said Major-General Tsai Tien-fu, commander of the Wuchiu Marine Command.

Tsai said that the day-to-day routine, warfare readiness, and vacation schedules of the men in uniform on the island, located between Kinmen and Matsu, have remained normal and have not changed because of the rumors.

Wuchiu, which is comprised of the two major islands of Tahchiu and Hsiaochiu, is the nearest ROC post to the Chinese mainland. Together with Matsu's Chukuang, it was the focus of the PLA's live-ammunition war games conducting during the height of the Taiwan Strait tensions in 1996, according to military intelligence sources.

Wuchiu was originally part of the Meizhou Township of Fujian Province's Putien County. The ROC military first arrived on the island in 1949 after the Nationalists lost the civil war to the communists. In 1952, troops stationed on Wuchiu were included in the ROC Anti-Communist Combat forces. In 1973, the Wuchiu forces were transformed into an all-marine combat force.

With an area of 1.22 square kilometers, Wuchiu currently has 75 civilian households with a population of 387, but only some 20 of the registered residents frequently live on the island.

While the civilians operate some small businesses involving fishing and ocean products, all necessary supplies are transported to the island by ROC Navy ships from Taiwan.

Although the incoming ROC government has not yet decided whether all the troops on Wuchiu should be relocated and the island instead taken over by the newly-established Coast Guard Administration as the overall situation has changed, some coast guard forces have been moved into Wuchiu in recent weeks.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has also planned to use Hsiaochiu as a site for storing radioactive waste discharged by Taiwan's three nuclear power plants. The plan has led to an outcry among the civilian population of Wuchiu. (By Luo Kuang-jen and Deborah Kuo)