The Ministry of National Defense’s reported move to cut 2 percent of the army’s chemical unit as part of its Elite Forces Plan was met with opposition and questions in light of the disasters that have befallen Japan.
The Elite Forces Plan is part of the ministry’s preparations to phase out compulsory military service and replace it with a voluntary program.
A report from the Control Yuan on Thursday suggested that the ministry plans to reduce the total number of active forces from 275,000 to 215,000, which would lower the relative proportion of personnel and equipment available for disaster relief and prevention.
Saying that disaster relief and prevention are already the primary missions for the army, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓) said the ministry should not disband necessary units just for the sake of disarmament.
According to anonymous sources, each of the three army groups nationwide has chemical units. Each unit has a reconnaissance battalion, a smoke battalion and an aid-deployment battalion.
To support the 7 million Taiwanese in the north of the country, the northern army group has appointed four companies to each battalion. Meanwhile, the central army group only has three companies to a battalion, while the southern army group only has one company assigned to each battalion.
Including those stationed on the nation’s outlying islands, the total number of soldiers in chemical units is about 2,000.
However, the ministry’s disarmament project suggests that all three aid-deployment battalions should be disbanded.
According to a decommissioned corporal, who declined to be named: “The chemical unit was reinforced after the SARS scare [in 2003], when it was discovered the nation had insufficient manpower. It’s ironic that five years later it’s being disbanded.”
The chemical unit the key line of defense against pandemics or epidemics, chemical factory fires and even the nuclear crisis in Japan, the decommissioned corporal said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
TRAVEL CONVENIENCE: The program is to shorten wait times while passing through airport checks and would start for Taiwanese from January next year Japan is to launch a new program to expedite entry procedures for Taiwanese starting from January next year. The Japanese government is planning to introduce new rules to shorten the time it takes foreign travelers to pass through immigration, thereby attracting more tourists to visit, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday. An airport preclearance program would be implemented to allow foreign travelers to finish some screenings at their departure airport’s terminals and undergo simple confirmation procedures upon arrival, it said. The program would initially be applied to travelers from Taiwan from January next year and could be extended to travelers from elsewhere depending
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final