The Legislative Yuan’s Foreign and National Defense Committee yesterday passed an initial review of draft amendments to the Act of Military Service for Officers and Noncommissioned Officers of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍軍官士官服役條例).
The passage came after 20 hours of clause-by-clause review on Wednesday and yesterday amid protests by veterans opposing reform outside.
Military personnel who have served for at least 20 years would be entitled to a monthly pension that is 55 percent of two times their salary and the percentage would increase by 2 percent for each additional year of service over 20 years up to a maximum of 90 percent for officers and 95 percent for noncommissioned officers, according to the draft amendments.
The minimum monthly pension for retired military personnel is to be NT$38,990, according to the draft amendments.
Retired military personnel with a monthly pension lower than NT$38,990 — the new pension floor set by the amendments — would not be affected by the cuts.
Toward the end of the initial review, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators raised banners and shouted: “Enact [the draft amendments] for current military personnel first and postpone them for retired military personnel.”
“The Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] caucus has continuously communicated and coordinated [with others] and given in where it can,” DPP caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said.
The DPP caucus knows that the KMT caucus wants to create opposition and conflict, but it has nonetheless allowed KMT lawmakers to express their opinions, Ker said.
Some details in the bill might be adjusted, but its general direction has been set, he added.
Interim meetings are to be held to finish the second and third readings of the draft amendments, he said, adding that the procedure would not be rushed to allow the proposed changes to take effect on July 1 as planned.
Veterans’ group 800 Heroes said in a statement last night that the government has completely ignored the wishes of veterans to not retroactively apply pension reform to retirees and has abandoned its promise to them.
The group will end their 444-day protest in their camp outside the legislature to prepare for another long-term fight to oppose the planned pension reform, it said.
Next week, it will convene meetings to decide its next step, which might include more mass protests, it added.
The group will continue to organize frequent protests at different locations to fight for the justice and fairness they deserve, it said.
Additional reporting by Ann Maxon
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS