Hand-grenade training, including the throwing of live grenades, is to be incorporated into the basic training of all volunteers and conscripts starting next year, as the military restarts the year-long draft, the Army Command Headquarters said yesterday.
Grenade training would be mandatory for volunteers and draftees enlisting next year, but not reservists undergoing the four-month refresher training, army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Chen Chien-yi (陳建義) told a regular news conference at the Ministry of National Defense in Taipei.
The enhanced eight-week basic training program is being prepared for its launch next year at the Chenggongling military training camp, he said, adding that the revised program would focus on incrementally increasing the difficulty level of the drills.
Photo: CNA
The hand-grenade course is to include instructions on the steps for throwing the munition, principles of operation and safety standards before a live throw is conducted, Chen said.
Chen was asked about reports that the military plans to procure NT$1.03 billion (US$32.2 million) of M67 grenades from the US and NT$372 million of Mk 2 grenades from the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology.
He said that while the military is striving to build up its ammunition stockpile, including procuring grenades from the US, it has no interest in buying Mk 2 grenades, which is a 100-year-old design.
The institute’s contract was to make 240,000 replacement fuses for Mk 2 grenades currently in inventory, which are to be used for training purposes, Chen said, adding that new fuses are needed to ensure the safety of trainees.
Asked about the price of NT$1,550 per fuse, he said the cost is justified, as replacing the fuses would allow the military to use a vast stock of old grenades instead of destroying them.
The military’s management of traditional munitions held in reserve must take into account a myriad of possible conditions that might occur in a conflict, Chen added.
Separately, the ministry refused to confirm a report that a US joint training and logistic group is being established in Taiwan, but acknowledged that the Pentagon has plans to reposition part of its ammunition and equipment reserves from Southeast Asia to Taiwan.
The specific type of munitions and equipment to be stored in Taiwan is yet to be determined as negotiations are ongoing, the ministry said.
The Chinese-language United Daily News on Monday reported that the army’s budget for the next fiscal year includes an NT$376 million allocation for a “US Joint Training Team Logistics Support Group” and expenses associated with that organization.
The funds made provisions for ammunition and equipment storage management, maintenance and repair, sustainment and technical support for advanced weapon systems, and overhead costs, the newspaper said.
The joint training and logistics center is to be set up to train Taiwanese troops in using US weapons and equipment, and provide technical support and logistics in an integrated operation, the report said.
The center would be made up of 200 US personnel, it said.
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
RSS