A majority of military experts are pessimistic about the nation’s transition to an all-volunteer force due to the difficulties of enlisting sufficient volunteers, according to a Control Yuan report published yesterday.
Control Yuan members Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) and Chao Chang-ping (趙昌平) released their joint report, titled The Latest Developments of the Government’s Facilitation of An All-Volunteer Military, at a press conference in Taipei yesterday afternoon.
“We have spoken to several military experts, including a former minister of defense and a serving chief of staff of the army. Most are deeply concerned about the goal of having an all-volunteer military,” Huang said, adding that Minister of National Defense Yen Ming (嚴明) is the only official endorsing the system.
The all-volunteer system was originally scheduled for 2015, but was postponed for two years by the Ministry of National Defense (MND) in September because of recruitment difficulties.
In the first 11 months of the year, the military enlisted a total of 8,603 volunteers, just 30.15 percent of the ministry’s target of 28,531 recruits.
The report quoted retired navy vice admiral Lan Ning-li (蘭寧利) as saying that the consequences of implementing an all-volunteer system could be “devastating,” as the armed forces would most likely “run out of soldiers” when it could neither enlist sufficient volunteers or convince enough officers to stay in the military.
Former navy commander-in-chief Admiral Miao Yung-ching (苗永慶) was also quoted in the report as saying: “My gravest concern is that the all-volunteer system may not be fully developed by the time the government scraps the conscription system… Is it possible for [the government] to postpone the suspension to a later date?”
Chao said that aside from the recruitment issues, the ministry also faces major financial challenges.
“The all-volunteer system is expected to cost the government NT$50 billion to NT$60 billion [US$1.66 billion to US$1.99 billion] a year more than the conscription system. That figure is likely to increase rather than decrease over time. Where will we get that kind of money?” Chao said.
Huang said the problems would only be exacerbated when the all-volunteer system comes into effect in 2017.
“By then, there may be only three options left for the ministry: Cutting the size of the armed forces, which is also proposed by some of the experts we spoke to; further deferring the implementation of the all-volunteer system; or reinstating the conscription system,” Huang said.
However, the pair declined to give an unequivocal answer when asked by reporters whether they “strongly suggest” that the government abandon the all-volunteer goal altogether.
“Military affairs are vital to the nation, so we must not jump to any conclusions… However, we cannot say we are optimistic [about the all-volunteer system] either,” Huang said.
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said. The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure, said the people, who include a lawyer and two executives with direct knowledge of the discussions. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said the lawyer, James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm. He declined to identify
BOLSTERING DEFENSE: The explosive is 40 percent more powerful than those in use and could be deployed for Hsiung Feng II and III missiles, a government source said The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has developed a polycyclic nitroamine explosive, commonly known as CL-20, which is the most powerful non-nuclear explosive known, a government source said yesterday on condition of anonymity. The institute has significantly improved explosive and rocket propellant research and development in recent years, the source said. A new factory was established in June 2022 with NT$540 million (US$16.6 million) in equipment installed, the source said. A central complex that would house 50-gallon (189 liters) and 300-gallon (1,136 liters) explosive mixer machines, as well as a storage device, was constructed in the factory, the institute said. The explosive is