Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of deliberately twisting her remarks about military recruitment reforms to score political points.
“To say that my criticism of military recruitment reforms is a wish to return to a mandatory military service system is nothing but an attempt at political maneuvering ahead of the elections,” Tsai said on Facebook, referring to the presidential and legislative elections in January.
“It is exactly because of this political maneuvering that reforms of the military recruitment system have been problematic and the effort to recruit an all-volunteer military force has been ineffective,” she wrote.
“Such a mistake should not be repeated again, because it would only undermine rational discussions of the issue, and could create loopholes in national security, as well as instability in the military,” she added.
Tsai was referring to the KMT’s response to the criticism she made in Pingtung on Tuesday about changes to the recruitment system.
Military service is mandatory for men aged 20 to 45, but as part of the government’s policy to shift to an all-volunteer military, men born from 1994 onward are to be exempt from compulsory military service.
Tsai said that in the government’s rush to implement the program in order to attract political support during elections, the new system is riddled with problems, notably its difficulty enlisting a sufficient number of volunteers.
Tsai, the DPP’s candidate for the presidential election next year, said she would “find a balance” between adopting a mandatory and volunteer recruiting system. Her KMT critics interpreted it as a proposal to restore a mandatory recruitment system.
“It is impossible for us to return to the traditional mandatory recruitment system, but an all-volunteer recruitment system is facing challenges due to a declining birth rate and finances,” Tsai said. “We must therefore find an ideal system between an all-volunteer and an all-mandatory system.”
Although President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), the commander-in-chief, does not seem to be very concerned about the problem, Tsai said she must seriously face the issue as a candidate for the position.
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