The armed forces have been experiencing a general shortage of personnel since the compulsory service term for conscripts was reduced by two months at the beginning of the year, defense officials said yesterday.
The number of soldiers who were discharged last month was significantly more than the monthly average in the past.
The first soldiers to benefit from the new measure said they were happy, but the workload of the remaining conscripts has increased as a result of the reduced service term, because fewer people are left to do the same amount of work.
Soldiers say what affects them most is the sentry duty. Where previously they had at most three shifts a day to stand guard, they now have an average of four shifts each day.
An army officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the condition appears unbearable to soldiers, who are generally weak in physical strength and fragile in mental state.
"The four shifts of sentry duty a day include three in the daytime and one late at night. They can rest for several hours between each shift, but many soldiers complain the workload is much too heavy. Most of the soldiers are of the so-called `strawberry' generation. They might be very smart, but can not cope with a heavy workload and intense working conditions," the officer said.
"We have been telling them that this is a transitional period and that the situation will improve within a few months," he said.
The compulsory service term for conscripts was cut from 22 months to 20 months from Jan. 1 following an executive order of the Ministry of National Defense. The conscription law has not been changed, and still stipulates a 22-month term.
It is not known how long the measure is to last. Many opposition politicians have said that the reduction is aimed at attracting votes in the March 20 presidential election.
The compulsory service term was last reduced four years ago, also prior to the presidential election.
But according to some defense sources the service term can be cut further. The ministry's final goal is to reduce the term to one year over the next five years, the sources said.
They said the reduced service term is inevitable, since the military will need fewer and fewer personnel in future.
Some have said that while the ministry is trying to streamline the military forces' personnel structure, it has neglected to tackle the red tape and make the jobs of those who survive the personnel cut easier.
This has been the case since the previous personnel streamlining effort, the "Chingshih" project, which was conducted between 1996 and 2000, sources said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai