The Ministry of National Defense yesterday told a news conference that it will continue to draft eligible Taiwanese to military service next year, the second time it has pushed back the target date for ending conscription as Taiwan tries to shift to an all-volunteer military force.
To maintain a force large enough to defend the nation, the ministry requires 9,600 men born before 1993 to perform one year of military service, said Lieutenant General Hsu Yen-pu (徐衍璞), who is responsible for the military’s human resources.
The military’s plan was to end conscription this year and discharge the latest conscripts after one year of service at the end of this year, leaving an all-volunteer force by next year, although four months of military training would still be mandatory.
However, the ministry last year said that it would continue to draft eligible men born before 1994 to enlist another 23,100 soldiers for a year of military service this year.
The plan was revised because the military does not expect to meet its recruitment target by the end of the year, but the ministry said that the policy of moving toward an all-volunteer force remains unchanged.
Those born after 1994 will be exempt from one-year compulsory military service, but will still be required to undergo four months of mandatory military training upon reaching conscription age, Hsu said.
Hsu said that the ministry would conduct a thorough review of military staff before making a decision on whether it would push the implementation of volunteer military service to 2018.
Once the target of 90 percent volunteer soldiers and officers is reached, the ministry will end conscription, Hsu said.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS