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Military cuts 2 months off service time

"If the war were to last for only a short term, the impact on Taiwan would be minimal, but the impact would become less predictable if the war were to drag on for a long period."

Tang Yao-ming, national defense minister

The term for compulsory military service is to be shortened starting from the beginning of next year by two or three months depending on the education level of draftees, Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) said yesterday.

Compulsory service is to be shortened to one year and eight months -- which is two months short of the current term, Tang said. Conscripts who have degrees will have an additional month shaved off their term since the military education courses they took in college can be converted to military service time, he said.

Tang made the announcement yesterday at a meeting of the legislative National Defense Committee. The announcement is good news for some conscripts now serving in the military or those who have yet to serve.

But soldiers who are scheduled to be discharged before Jan. 1, next year, will not have their time in the service shortened.

It is the second time in three years that compulsory military service term has been trimmed.

In 2000, the two-year duty which had been enforced for more than a decade was reduced to one year and ten months for conscripts with no college educational backgrounds and to one year and eight months for those with college or above educational backgrounds.

Tang explained the rationale for cutting the tour of duty.

"The service term is to be shortened because another wave of personnel streamlining efforts is to be launched from next year. We aim to cut a total of 15,000 personnel next year, 9,000 of which are conscripts," Tang said.

"As we drop our demand for manpower, the number of youths waiting to be conscripted for military service will increase. To prevent a possible long queue, the military will allow [many of] those who are in service to be discharged two months earlier," he said.

Meanwhile, at yesterday's defense committee meeting, Tang predicted that the US would launch a strike against Iraq before March 20.

Tang made the prediction after being asked to do so by several lawmakers who expressed concerns about whether a possible war between the US and Iraq would have any impact on Taiwan.

"If the war were to last for only a short term, the impact on Taiwan would be minimal, but the impact would become less predictable if the war were to drag on for a long period," he said.

"Our main worry is the oil supply," Tang said.
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