A majority of military experts are pessimistic about the nation’s transition to an all-volunteer force due to the difficulties of enlisting sufficient volunteers, according to a Control Yuan report published yesterday.
Control Yuan members Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) and Chao Chang-ping (趙昌平) released their joint report, titled The Latest Developments of the Government’s Facilitation of An All-Volunteer Military, at a press conference in Taipei yesterday afternoon.
“We have spoken to several military experts, including a former minister of defense and a serving chief of staff of the army. Most are deeply concerned about the goal of having an all-volunteer military,” Huang said, adding that Minister of National Defense Yen Ming (嚴明) is the only official endorsing the system.
The all-volunteer system was originally scheduled for 2015, but was postponed for two years by the Ministry of National Defense (MND) in September because of recruitment difficulties.
In the first 11 months of the year, the military enlisted a total of 8,603 volunteers, just 30.15 percent of the ministry’s target of 28,531 recruits.
The report quoted retired navy vice admiral Lan Ning-li (蘭寧利) as saying that the consequences of implementing an all-volunteer system could be “devastating,” as the armed forces would most likely “run out of soldiers” when it could neither enlist sufficient volunteers or convince enough officers to stay in the military.
Former navy commander-in-chief Admiral Miao Yung-ching (苗永慶) was also quoted in the report as saying: “My gravest concern is that the all-volunteer system may not be fully developed by the time the government scraps the conscription system… Is it possible for [the government] to postpone the suspension to a later date?”
Chao said that aside from the recruitment issues, the ministry also faces major financial challenges.
“The all-volunteer system is expected to cost the government NT$50 billion to NT$60 billion [US$1.66 billion to US$1.99 billion] a year more than the conscription system. That figure is likely to increase rather than decrease over time. Where will we get that kind of money?” Chao said.
Huang said the problems would only be exacerbated when the all-volunteer system comes into effect in 2017.
“By then, there may be only three options left for the ministry: Cutting the size of the armed forces, which is also proposed by some of the experts we spoke to; further deferring the implementation of the all-volunteer system; or reinstating the conscription system,” Huang said.
However, the pair declined to give an unequivocal answer when asked by reporters whether they “strongly suggest” that the government abandon the all-volunteer goal altogether.
“Military affairs are vital to the nation, so we must not jump to any conclusions… However, we cannot say we are optimistic [about the all-volunteer system] either,” Huang said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS