Minister says army is ready to fight to its very last soldier

Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) yesterday said the armed forces will fight to the last man to defend the country against foreign invaders.

"It is the will to fight that I am talking about. As the ROC was invaded by the Japanese over six decades ago, Japan had declared it would win the war in three months. But the war dragged on for eight years. The final victor was not Japan, but us," Tang said.

Tang made the remarks yesterday at a meeting of the Defense Committee of the legislature, responding to inquiries from a DPP lawmaker over whether he has said the armed forces will fight to the last man for the country.

Tang admitted to having made such statement, but he emphasized what he wanted to say was the strong will to fight among the armed forces.

Tang did not explain, however, whether the armed forces are still willing to fight for the country in case the government declares independence.

Defense ministry spokesman Major General Huang Sui-sheng (黃穗生) said although Tang did not make a clear statement on the issue, what he meant was that the armed forces will fight for the country and the people despite political change.

"The armed forces will execute their duty to the country according to the Constitution. In the Constitution, our country is called ROC," Huang said.

Besides the strong will to fight, Tang said, the armed forces have also the backup of reserves in the defense of the country.

Tang said a total of 1 million reserves can be mobilized within days of a war and that 300,000 of them can be brought back into service within 24 hours. He conceded, however, that although 300,000 reservists can re-join the service within 24 hours of a war, not enough weapons are ready for them.

Tang guaranteed that the problem will be solved by 2005 as all the necessary weapons were to be supplied to reserve forces by then.