Volunteer military working
According to news reports, as of the end of last year, the ratio of planned military recruits to serving personnel had reached 82.8 percent and military authorities have set a target of 85 percent for this year. These numbers show that the armed forces’ promotion of voluntary recruitment, as opposed to conscription, over many years, is gradually yielding positive results.
Furthermore, due to factors such as Taiwan’s changing population structure and the retirement of reserve officers enlisted under the conscription system, the ratio of low-ranking military officers fell to about 54 percent in 2017.
However, thanks to a range of measures, as of the end of last year the ratio for first and second lieutenants stood at about 77 percent and is forecast to reach about 80 percent by the end of this year. That will be enough to satisfy the requirements for basic forces.
Apart from working hard to recruit personnel, the armed forces have been thinking up various ways to retain them.
As well as allocating supplementary payments, such as combat force service allowances and general service allowances, the Ministry of National Defense is looking after soldiers’ living standards by raising their wages, with the aim of persuading talented military personnel who spent a lot of time and put in a lot of effort to train to remain in the forces.
The ministry has done a fine job of promoting voluntary recruitment, as can be seen from the intake of university students for the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps in the first semester of this academic year. The number of entrants has surged from 195 to 615.
As well as making up for the shortfall of entrants to military academies, this also allows students from economically hard-up families to pursue their studies and gives them another choice as to where their lives will take them.
When I was studying at a military academy, I was able, with my parents’ support, to get a mortgage on a house. I was able to pay the mortgage off less than 20 years after graduating from the academy, get married and have children.
Looking back over the 27 years that have passed since I left the military academy, although I have not grown hugely wealthy, my family and I have never been short of food or clothes. I am thankful for the day I chose the path of joining the military.
The military recruitment system has given many young people an alternative path to follow. Let us hope that even more young people will choose to join the armed forces and help to bolster Taiwan’s national defense.
Chen Hung-hui
New Taipei City
Independence vote a must
It is unfortunate that the American Institute in Taiwan has stated its opposition to a referendum on independence. The opposition is an indication of the US’ ambivalence toward Taiwanese policy. It is an unprincipled attitude that places little value on the wishes of the people and the nation’s democracy. Unfortunately, the trade dollar is more important than principles in the corridors of power of most Western democracies.
The referendum should proceed whether the US likes it or not. It would not affect the so-called “status quo,” but would send a clear message to China and the US of Taiwanese opinion. It would impose a degree of reality on the situation.
The referendum should not take the form of a declaration of independence, as Taiwan is already independent, but a vote on attitudes to constitutional change.
Taiwan has nothing to lose and everything to gain by proceeding with a peoples’ vote.
Gavan Duffy
Queensland, Australia
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