Civilian control over the military is common in advanced democracies and is an inevitable trend. As Taiwan continues to reform the military and implement law-based administration of the armed forces, it is important to let more civilian leaders take charge of strategic decisionmaking, paving the way for the appointment of civilians as minister and deputy minister of national defense.
In the US, Japan and some European nations, ministers and deputy ministers of national defense are civilians. This way, the decisionmaking process would not be dominated by military officers, but would include input from professionals from different fields. That should help modernize national defense agencies, create more comprehensive national defense policies and contribute to the innovation of the military’s operations.
The heads of national defense in the UK, Japan and India are all civilians. These three countries rank among the top 10 in terms of global military power; Japan also had had two female defense heads. Other examples include Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The incumbent defense ministers of the Netherlands and New Zealand are female. In 2021, the US appointed its first female deputy secretary of defense, Kathleen Hicks.
In 2002, Taiwan announced plans to converge its military command and administration systems. The ultimate goal is to have civilians replace military officers as heads of national defense, who would lead a group of professionals from different fields to improve Taiwan’s national defense institutions. Fundamentally, they are expected to change the culture of the armed forces, improve the military’s administrative efficiency and place all military affairs under administrative law.
Twenty-two years have passed since the enactment of the National Defense Act (國防法) and the Organization Act of the Ministry of National Defense (國防部組織法). During the tenure of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), he appointed one civilian as defense minister and two as deputy defense ministers. Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) also had one civilian defense minister and two civilian deputy ministers.
It would be significantly meaningful if the next president would also tap civilians to serve as minister and deputy minister of national defense.
Although Taiwan is a democratic country, administrative law has yet to be fully practiced in the military. Civilian leaders should be appointed to important positions in the Ministry of National Defense, such as permanent secretary or head of the department for strategic planning. However, for decades, only military officers — with a few exceptions — have been assigned to these positions, as a hierarchy based on military rank allows the ministry to be dominated by military officers. Under such a culture, it is not surprising that scandals and cases of espionage have repeatedly recurred. If the hierarchy remains in place, military reforms would never happen.
Taiwan needs to keep pushing forward on national defense reforms and law-based administration in the military. Some conservative organizations in the armed forces should be fundamentally changed or transformed. The key is to let civilian leaders supervise the transformation by making them the next minister and deputy minister of national defense.
Yao Chung-yuan is an adjunct professor and former deputy director of the Ministry of National Defense’s strategic planning department.
Translated by Emma Liu
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