The viability of the military’s all-volunteer force, a major defense initiative endorsed by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is questionable, according to a Control Yuan report published a few weeks ago.
The report came after the Control Yuan last year stated its concern about the nation’s military preparedness after the government started implementation of the plan, which it said might pose “serious risks to national security.”
The report said the initiative’s implementation added to other challenges facing the military, such as falling troop numbers and ongoing reductions to the length of compulsory military service.
“The current conditions of this nation do not permit relying solely on volunteers as a source of military recruitment,” it said.
The initiative has resulted in a lack of recruits, high personnel costs, the recruitment of troops of dubious quality and inability to properly mobilize during wartime, and it has been detrimental to the idea that citizens have a duty to defend the nation, the report said.
Citing the Ministry of National Defense’s fiscal report, the Control Yuan said that the military has so far inducted about 160,700 volunteers into the armed forces, but an absolute minimum of 175,000 troops are required for the nation’s defense.
This leaves the military with a projected shortage of 14,000 troops, the report said.
Over the past two years, Control Yuan members toured military units, and interviewed enlisted troops and officers nearing retirement to write the report, it said.
Repeated downsizing has led to a situation where enlisted personnel and non-commissioned officers were forced to occupy positions that should have been filled by commissioned officers, the report cited interviewees as saying.
Furthermore, the slow rate of replacement has hampered the continuity of institutional knowledge in many units, as personnel with special skills have retired without anyone taking their place, the report said.
An unnamed officer said at a hearing that he had for three years served as the acting commander, acting deputy commander and political warfare officer for an unspecified group, it said.
Another unnamed officer said a group of 12 volunteer officers and enlisted troops had reported to a unit, but two weeks later, all but two had quit, the report said.
The military is addressing the issue by diversifying its sources of recruitment, raising wages and benefits, improving conditions of service and collecting necessary data for further improvements, ministry spokesman Major General Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉) said on Saturday.
The military hopes the public will rally behind the nation’s defense policy, he said.
Unlike most countries, Taiwan cannot use its country’s own name to compete in the Olympic Games or other major international sports events. Instead, it participates under the name “Chinese Taipei,” a name that causes confusion and sparks curiosity among many people, including an American director who explored the topic in his new documentary. Garret Clarke, the director of the 20-minute documentary What’s in a Name? A Chinese Taipei Story, said in an recent media interview said that he was motivated to make the documentary because he finds the name “Chinese Taipei” to be “weird.” The dispute that eventually created the name dates back
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to
The trailer of a new TV series portraying a Chinese attack on Taiwan has prompted a wave of emotional response and discussion in the nation. The teaser for Zero Day (零日攻擊), a Taiwanese production partly funded by the government and is expected to air next year, has given many viewers a sense of urgency. Its release this week coincided with annual air raid drills to prepare the nation’s 23 million residents in the event of an invasion by the Chinese military. “I burst into tears watching this. I feel heavy-hearted, and it is scary. However, this is what we need to face
CASUALTIES: The typhoon has left seven people dead, run cargo ships aground and caused landslides that have severed roads and left people stranded, officials said Typhoon Gaemi, which made landfall in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳) on Thursday, has left seven dead, one missing and 785 injured since Wednesday, the Central Emergency Operations Center said. The casualties announced by the center as of 2pm yesterday included two men who died in separate incidents, a 65-year-old in Tainan and a 75-year-old in Yunlin County. The man in Tainan was taken to hospital after he had fallen doing home repair work, while the man in Yunlin, who was driving a scooter on his way home, was taken to hospital after he was hit by falling tree branches and crashed,