The Ministry of National Defense yesterday opposed a draft compensation bill for over 30,000 surviving irregular troops who were never payed for raids made along the southeastern coast of China between 1949 and 1954.
Deputy administrative defense minister Vice Admiral Kao Yang (高揚) said the bill would cost the government NT$63.8 billion if the compensation is given according to current salary scales for the rank of corporal to each claimant.
"If the bill is passed, the MND will not have the money to execute it," Kao said. "Besides, according to regulations, these former irregular troops fall into the category of guerrillas. We do not pay salaries to guerrillas fighting for their country. Guerrillas have to fight on their own. They have to raise money by themselves. The government is not obliged to provide monetary support to guerrilla forces," he said.
Kao made the remarks yesterday at a meeting of the legislature's defense committee.
The compensation bill, proposed by lawmakers with the opposition People First Party, is for over 30,000 irregular troops who volunteered to raid China's southeastern coastal provinces. At the time, KMT government policy was to recover the mainland as quickly as possible.
The irregulars, called the "Anti-Communist National Salvation Army," were trained and supported by Western Enterprises Inc, a paramilitary arm of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Taiwan, according to a book written by a former CIA agent who was involved in the operation.
Frank Holober, writer of the book Raiders of the China Coast, came to Taiwan in September to persuade defense officials to recognize the contributions of the Anti-Communist National Salvation Army. On the plane flight back to the US, Holober died of a heart attack.
According to Holober's book, the Anti-Communist National Salvation Army was a guerrilla force, something the military does not dispute. An Anti-Communist National Salvation Army unit still exists today, but troops with the unit are now regular troops.
In a letter to Defense Minister Wu Shih-wen (伍世文) in April, Holober said: "We noted that the guerrillas sometimes suffered from a lack of supplies, but they proved to be remarkably self-sufficient. Now that the Republic of China is strong and prosperous, we hope that the Ministry will find itself in a position to recognize the contribution these forces made to their country and to reward their sacrifices." The letter was made public at yesterday's meeting of the defense committee of the legislature by a lawmaker with the PFP.
But despite Holober's best efforts, the military insists that the government has no obligation to reward forces with the Anti-Communist National Salvation Army, since, as everyone agrees, they were not regular troops.
Lawmakers with the ruling DPP sides with the military, saying that if all the guerrillas who fought for the government against the Communists in or out of the mainland were compensated, the government would go bankrupt.
Retired colonel Wei Yu (魏瑜), a former member of the Anti-Communist National Salvation Army, accused the military of lying about their identity. Wei attended yesterday's meeting.
"I was an army captain before joining the Anti-Communist National Salvation Army. It is true that I did not have a title or rank as I was in the `Army.' But we were under the direct command of military leaders in Kinmen and Matsu. We were irregular troops, not guerrillas," Wei said.
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