Defense committee passes military compensation bill

The legislature's defense committee yesterday passed the first reading of regulations which will require the government to pay compensation to a group of ex-government troops and intelligence agents who had been captured and imprisoned by the communists during the civil war and the tense periods that followed.

The regulations were passed amid opposition by military authorities, who maintain that most of those who qualify have already received money from the government.

The majority of those who will qualify for the compensation are local Taiwanese who were drafted by the KMT government to fight during the civil war but who were captured and imprisoned by the communists. Around 2,000 of these ex-soldiers have managed to return to Taiwan over the past decade.

Others include intelligence agents sent to China following the KMT's loss in the civil war who were captured and imprisoned. Around 300 of these former agents have come back to Taiwan since 1987 when the government allowed retired servicemen born in China to return to visit their hometowns.

"We object to the bill mainly because we have already compensated most of the people who qualify. We are now taking care of these people according to executive orders [passed by the Executive Yuan]," said Deputy Administrative Defense Minister Vice Admiral Kao Yang (高揚). Kao was referring to an NT$800,000 pay-out which the government issued to each of most of the roughly 2,300 former troops and intelligence agents following their return to Taiwan.

But veterans and lawmakers who supported their claims considered the money insufficient.

According to the compensation regulations passed by the legislature's defense committee yesterday, the government must pay up to NT$8 million to each of the people who qualify.

Seventy-four-year-old Wang Shih-chin (王石金), a local Taiwanese who fought the communists during the civil war, said he and the other veterans need more compensation from the government in order to survive.

"The government has given each of us NT$800,000. But that is not even enough to buy a house. I joined the KMT army at the age of 18. I returned to Taiwan five years ago only to find my family members were all gone," Wang said.

"I had spent the best part of my life in prison and in labor camp in China. I am now unable to work. I live on a mere NT$13,700 pension from the government each month," he said.

Liu Lai-wang (劉來旺), 73, said his experience had been similar to Wang's but that he had not been able to come back to Taiwan until two years ago.

"I joined the KMT army following the retrocession of Taiwan from the Japanese. A lot of young Taiwanese like me joined the army because the government told us that after three years' service, it would find a good job for us," Liu said.