While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said.
In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation.
The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing annual budgets for the current fiscal year.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
In 2021, 1,565, or 0.86 percent, of the 181,904 male reservists who had retired from military service within the previous eight years were called up for training.
That figure rose to 2,958 the following year and 6,505 last year, a recent report from the department showed.
Following the legislature’s proposal earlier this year, the number of reservists to be called up for training is to soar to 120,000, according to the ministry's latest report to the legislature.
To facilitate the increase, the ministry said it would consider amending the Measures for Recruitment of Retired Male Reservists (替代役役男服役期滿後召集服勤實施辦法) to address issues such as the length and frequency of reservist training sessions.
The regulations define penalties for those who fail to show up for training without reason, and the amendments would seek to balance the rights and obligations of male reservists based on those penalties, it said.
Institute for National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) yesterday said that civil defense would be an important component of Taiwan’s overall defense strategy.
During wartime, reservists could serve critical roles in many areas of civil defense, including firefighting, policing and information technology, Su said.
For example, as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology are strategically important, reservists could help the institutions meet their labor needs during wartime, he said.
“Those called up for training could be proficient in different specialties. By training them in crisis awareness, we can strengthen civil defense and the resilience of society as a whole,” he said.
Kuma Academy chief executive officer Ho Cheng-hui (何澄輝) echoed Su’s sentiments, adding that Taiwan needs a sound civil defense system.
“Taiwan contends with numerous natural disasters, as well as military threats from China. If a serious situation occurs, local governments might not be able to deal with it,” Ho said. “By expanding the number of people called into alternative service, a sound civil defense system can be established to address such emergencies.”
As China would seek to infiltrate Taiwan during a war, civil defense measures should also include training on how to recognize and combat espionage and collaboration with China, he said.
This article has been updated since it was first posted.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS