Conscripts performing their mandatory military service would be assigned to military bases based on their expertise, the locations where their households are registered and personal preference, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
One-year mandatory military service for men is to resume next year.
Citing the ministry’s budget plan for next year, Chieh Chung (揭仲), an associate research fellow at the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) National Policy Foundation think tank, on Sunday said that 700 conscripts, or one in every 13, would be deployed to outlying islands.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
The ministry yesterday said that, in general, those who would be deployed to outlying islands would have a medium or high level of expertise, have their homes registered on outlying islands or prefer to be stationed there.
“Conscripts deployed to outlying islands would receive complete training, including the training given to every conscript in any standing troop and specialized training for conscripts stationed on outlying islands. The military bases would have sufficient resources to meet training demands,” the ministry said.
In addition to military stipends, conscripts would receive additional subsidies based on where they are stationed and their expertise, it said.
“On the principle of equality, all conscripts would undergo one year of military training, regardless of where they do the compulsory service,” the ministry said.
The ministry’s budget plan for next year also shows that the Medical Affairs Bureau is to be allocated NT$980 million (US$30.74 million) over the next four years to upgrade its medical equipment, which the ministry said “would support tasks involving medical emergencies and severe medical injuries during wartime” and “support the missions of combat troops.”
The new equipment would include mobile X-ray machines, C-arms for surgical imaging, freezers that can store blood at minus-40°C and refrigerators that can store blood at 4°C.
Next year’s budget for medical equipment would be NT$257 million, the ministry said.
“The procurement is a regular procedure that is conducted based on five-year investment plans proposed by different military hospitals and the amount of equipment that has reached retirement age. The way that we build up medical capacity is no different from that in other countries. There is no need to overinterpret the significance of the project,” it said.
The ministry has allocated NT$43.70 million to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Whampoa Military Academy next year, which is now known as the Republic of China Military Academy.
Although the academy, founded by Sun Yat-sen in 1924, produced commanders who fought in many of China’s conflicts in the 20th century, China aimed to use the celebration of the academy’s 99th anniversary in June to reinforce the “orthodoxy of the regime” and claim ownership of the academy’s heritage, the ministry said.
For the 100th anniversary celebrations, there would be drone performances and cadets marching with a new style of goose step, it added.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
RSS