As the Ministry of National Defense continues to struggle to meet recruitment targets for an all-volunteer force, lawmakers across party lines have said they are concerned about the effect the recruitment drives are having on the armed forces’ image.
Under the ministry’s timetable, the armed forces should have enough volunteers to staff 90 percent of positions by the end of the year, the state-run Military News Agency said on March 22.
It is 17,000 enlistments short of that goal, the report said.
The pressure to meet recruitment goals has prompted some military units to adopt inventive recruiting methods, the report said.
Some of those methods have been criticized as undignified.
One air force battalion commander personally led recruiters on an enlistment drive in the Old Street area of New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水).
Several units allegedly disseminated photographs of attractive female military personnel on social media as a recruiting tool, but some of the women complained of online harassment, while critics panned use of social media as detrimental to the military’s reputation.
The armed forces have been hard-pressed to find recruits since the all-volunteer program’s rollout, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said.
Strange recruiting tactics are a consequence of the ministry’s erroneous policy putting the onus of meeting goals on field units, which has led to some unit commanders being givin recruitment quotas, the lawmaker said.
“Troop recruitment should have been the sole responsibility of the National Armed Forces Recruitment Center and not a concern for the rest of the military,” he said. “These publicity stunts degrade the solemnity of military service. Our soldiers should not be turned into insurance salespeople peddling products.”
The ministry should rely on proven methods to recruit qualified volunteers and avoid fixating on quantitative metrics while neglecting quality, he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) said the recruitment stunts objectified women and had harmed the image of the armed forces.
“The military is suffering from shortages of volunteer soldiers and officers because pay and benefits are not attractive,” she said.
A military career also entails the loss of personal freedoms that many young people find unpalatable, Ko said.
“To inspire patriotism, the ministry must burnish the image and values of the armed forces and ensure that soldiering is a well-compensated and honorable profession,” she said. “Young people need to see that joining the military makes them part of a proud, select elite before we can ask them to join.”
Army Commander General Wang Shin-lung (王信龍) on Friday told a panel reviewing recruitment policies that the military is committed to keeping field units’ focus on operational capabilities and training.
Commanders and ministry officials should strive to maintain the positive image of soldiers, while recruiting efforts should focus on the dedication to defend the nation against aggression, Wang said.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
RSS