Republic of China Military Police

Republic of China Military Police 中華民國憲兵 Zhōnghuá Mínguó Xiànbīng
Flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Military Police
Active	1914 - Present
Country	Republic of China
Branch	Military Police
Size	16,000 (2004 est.)
Part of	Republic of China Armed Forces
Garrison/HQ	Taipei
Anniversaries	12 December
Engagements	Northern Expedition Xi'an Incident Second Sino-Japanese War Chinese Civil War
Commanders
Current commander	Lt. General Wu Ying-ping (吳應平)
Insignia
Jural Logo of ROC Military Police
Traditional Logo of ROC Military Police

The Republic of China Military Police (ROCMP; Chinese: 中華民國憲兵; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó Xiànbīng) is a military police body under the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of China. Unlike military police in many other countries, ROCMP is a separate branch of the ROC Armed Forces.

The Republic of China Military Police dated back to 1914. When the provisional president of Republic of China, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, took the office in Guangzhou, an internal security unit was established to enforce military discipline among the troops loyal to the Republic of China Provisional Government. This unit was later renamed Military Police and would gradually expands and become present-day Republic of China Military Police. In 1925, under the supervision of then general Chiang Kai-shek, the military police was expanded from a single company to a full battalion, and was attached to the Northern Expedition Forces the next year. In the next ten years, the military police gradually expanded into several regiments, and was active in purging the communist elements within the Nationalist government.

On December 12, 1936, while accompanying Chiang Kai-shek on an inspection trip to Xi'an, members of Military Police clashed with Zhang Xueliang's elite bodyguards when the latter were sent to arrest the generalissimo. The military police were caught off guard and outnumbered, and were soon overpowered by Zhang's force, who later arrested Chiang and his entourage in what is later known as the Xi'an Incident. More than one hundred military police became casualties in the brief battle. However, to commemorate the heroic actions of the Military Police, Chiang ordered December 12 to be the Military Police Day. This holiday is no longer observed by the Republic of China government.