Minister of National Defense Tang Fei (
"Generally speaking, conscripts these days are fairly weak physically as well as emotionally. This comes as a result of being spoiled by their parents," Tang said.
"I hope parents will not continue to dote on their boys. Otherwise, the armed forces will be short of capable men in the future. And so will society," he said.
Tang made the unusual remarks in an interview with a state-run radio station, while answering calls from listeners. Several male listeners expressed the same worries to Tang about the weakening of the armed forces, citing their own past service experiences.
Some said they had been required to run 5,000 meters each day when they served in the army, but that the requirement has now been lowered to only 3,000 meters.
"The fact is that conscripts now are not being pushed to attain the same level as soldiers in years past. We will try to address this by slowly introducing a more strenuous physical training program," Tang said.
"But it is also true that modern weapons have advanced to such a degree that it takes fewer people to operate them. And we no longer need to deploy ground troops to places hundreds of kilometers away," he said.
"Despite these facts, physical strength is still very important for the maintenance of the combat readiness of the armed forces," he added.
Meanwhile, Tang said the PLA has not shown any signs that they are planing to launch a military exercise which would target Taiwan during the lead-up to the March 18 presidential election.
On this side of the Taiwan Strait, Tang said, all large-scale military drills which were scheduled to be conducted between February and March have already been cancelled to avoid any unnecessary misunderstanding.
During the interview, Tang also once again called on the government and the public to work together to build a civilian-based defense system, which he said will help the country endure physical and psychological damage in the event of ballistic missile attacks from China.
A civilian-based defense system refers to the integration of military and civilian resources, such as sharing channels of information to help in responding to emergencies.
"Taiwan is quite vulnerable to missile attacks because of the way its resources are concentrated around the island. Over 70 percent of Taiwan's industrial and commercial resources, as well as the majority of its population, are concentrated in three major metropolitan areas," Tang said.
"Our petrochemical and power industries are two areas especially vulnerable to missile attacks. It would be a reasonable assumption that if China decided to attack Taiwan, they would use much of the same methods as the US used in its campaigns in Kosovo," he said.
"I hope we can follow the example of Israel and establish a civilian-based defense system. It will help us survive China's (potential) missile attacks."
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