The Ministry of National Defense late on Tuesday said its policy to phase out conscription and implement an all-volunteer military would be postponed again, as recruitment targets could not be met.
The plan to abolish the conscription system is to be pushed back at least to the end of next year, though it would still depend on the number of voluntary enlistments and other conditions at that time.
Critics and media called the postponement an embarrassing setback for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九); another “bounced check” among many promises Ma has made.
Photo: CNA
Establishing an all-volunteer military, consisting entirely of career soldiers, is considered one of Ma’s most important pledges and seen as an important test of fulfilling major government policies in his second term.
A total of 23,100 people, males aged 18 or over, would be affected by the postponement, according to the ministry’s announcement.
“Conscription is needed to cope with hostile threats from the enemy, escalating tensions in the region, the need for high combat readiness among the armed forces, and to effectively respond to disaster rescue and relief, and other emergencies,” the statement said.
According to officials, the ministry said Ma was informed of situation at a recent top-level military meeting, and the Cabinet approved the decision.
Ministry officials said compulsory military training is still in effect for males born after Jan. 1, 1994, who are still required to undergo four months of basic military training.
This is the second time that the ministry has pushed back its implementation of an all-volunteer military after not being able to meet its targets.
In September 2013, the ministry said the date would be pushed back two years because of recruitment difficulties and other situations among the branches of the armed forces.
In the original plan, the armed forces were scheduled to end compulsory military service for males born before Jan. 1, 1994, starting from Jan. 1 next year.
Tuesday’s statement marked an abrupt reversal, as the ministry announced just last month that shifting from conscription to an all-volunteer force was on track and it had reached 71 percent of its recruitment goal for the year, due to improved stipends and other incentives.
According to a high-ranking ministry official, as Taiwan is facing many “complicated circumstances and new challenges both internally and externally,” and as the situation is constantly changing, next year’s date could be pushed back again.
National conscription might even be kept, the official said.
“It will depend on adjusting to contingencies and new situations next year,” he added.
Presidential Office spokesperson Charles Chen (陳以信) said the military is on a “combined conscription and volunteer force,” and as such is not implementing an “all-volunteer force.”
“Due to false expectations, created when the term ‘all-volunteer force’ began to be used, it is not the case — as media reports have said — that this is a ‘bounced check on the all-volunteer force promise,’” Chen said.
“It was never the case,” he said.
Additional reporting by Wang Yu-chung
‘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