Troop reductions called into question

While the military claims to have reduced the number of troops from 452,000 to 385,000 over the past four years, personnel expenditures have increased, according to an internal legislative report.

The report calls into question the military's much-heralded Chingshih personnel streamlining project, initiated in 1997 and completed in the middle of this year.

Compared with the 1998 defense budget, military spending on personnel next year will increase NT$10.4 billion, the report says.

The report points out that one of the biggest reasons for the paradox is that the Chingshih project was not based on the actual number of personnel in the services.

Rather, the project's personnel reduction was based on the figure in the table of organization, which does not reflect actual conditions.

For example, in an average army infantry company, the table of organization lists about 150 soldiers, according to an army official.

But the actual number of personnel in such a unit before the completion of Chingshih project was often less than half the figure in the table of organization.

The internal report complains that the military has refused to provide actual troop numbers of troops, which it claims is classified information.

The report suggests, but does not clearly state, that the Chingshih personnel streamlining project was a scam in the sense that it did not cut as many personnel as it had claimed.

The report suggests that the total figure for personnel cut by the Chingshih project was only about 16,900, much less than the 60,000 the military claims.

The 16,900 figure consists of some 200 generals, 7,000 senior officers ranked between major and colonel, 8,000 junior officers ranked between second lieutenant and captain and 1,700 hired civilian employees.

There is no data available, the report says, to sustain the military's claim that as many as 60,000 people have been cut from the services.

The report points out that the military likes to include the number of troops transferred to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) in the number of troops it says have been reduced.

The CGA has received nearly 20,000 individuals from the military since its inauguration last year.

Strictly speaking, the military personnel transferred to the coast guard can not be described as "reduced personnel" since they still bear military rank and are on the government payroll.

A reduced military official is understood as one who has been cut out of the service.

Although the military tends to inflate the number of troops it has reduced, it did in fact cut a number of people from the payroll.

This alone should have reduced personnel maintenance costs, the report says.

The legislative report does not provide, however, the actual causes for the paradoxical increase in military personnel costs.

An opposition party lawmaker, who prefers not to be identified, said his understanding is that as the military cuts people it does not need, it has to spend more money to keep the necessary people from leaving.