New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) on Friday urged the government to increase the military conscription period to one year, citing the effectiveness of Ukraine’s defense against Russia.
Chiu, speaking during a session of the Legislative Yuan, said that conscription appears to have played a large role in bolstering Ukraine’s ability to exact a heavy price on Russia, which invaded its eastern European neighbor on Feb. 24.
The Taiwanese military — which discharged its last group of mandatory conscripts in December 2018 — is mostly comprised of volunteers, although men are still obligated to complete four months of military training and could be called up in war.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan should not rely on a small volunteer force for its defense, when its neighbor is a hostile and authoritarian state, Chiu said, adding that the four-month conscription period is too short.
Reservists should also be able to participate in rigorous training if they wish, and incentives for advanced training should be offered, he said.
Some civilian groups have been providing volunteers with training using air guns, which shows that a large number of people are willing to defend the country, he said.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
Almost no traffic controls or civilian participation are involved in the Wanan air raid drills, which offer inadequate preparation for Taiwanese, he said, adding that the drills should be more realistic.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that the nation should have a dialogue about the all-volunteer force and that policies should be created to provide extra training to willing reservists.
Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said that conscripts on four-year service terms make up a small part of the nation’s armed forces compared with volunteers on four-year contracts, who make up 90 percent of the military.
The military welcomes reservists who wish to volunteer for additional training and the Ministry of National Defense would offer incentives if the need arises, he said, adding that people playing with novelty weapons does not necessarily equate with being proper field training.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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