Three decades ago, I could not even finish a 600m run and was mocked by my classmates for being effeminate because I did not like sports. To my utter shock, I was drafted into the Marine Corps, and for a three-year term, while others were only required to serve two. I stood there speechless as the conscripts around me erupted into thunderous applause, celebrating that there was one fewer Marine Corps slot left in the draw.
I was sent to a military academy for training, but I graduated top of my class. I also participated in the last formal military parade held on Double Ten National Day in 1991, marching in perfect step. I endured grueling training for six months. Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was in office at the time. Later, with the shortening of compulsory military service, I only ended up serving for two years and 45 days. I left the military with eight-pack abs and the rank of sergeant, and often went jogging near my home. My former classmates could hardly believe how much I had changed.
Military training taught me to calmly face many challenges in a highly competitive environment, and it was that experience that gave me the ability to repay my family’s debts after returning to civilian life.
Today, mandatory military service is significantly shorter and alternative service options are available. Many celebrities, such as singer-songwriter Chang Yu-sheng (張雨生), actors Ming Dao (明道) and Leon Dai (戴立忍), TV entertainer He Yi-hang (賀一航), TV show host Hu Gua (胡瓜) and actor and singer Greg Hsu (許光漢) all served in the military and maintained their fame after doing so.
Male celebrities who dodge their military duty should acknowledge their wrongdoing, apologize to society and complete their service to erase the dishonor of draft dodging.
Serving in the military is a duty one must fulfill. Rather than burying your head in the sand, it is better to face it head-on. At the very least, you do not have to worry about one day being exposed, ruining years of hard-earned success in the entertainment industry in a single instant. Nor would someone be able to hold such a thing over you later to blackmail you after you have earned your fame. A single act of foolishness can create endless trouble down the line — the wise avoid such behavior.
Jimmy Hsu is a farmer.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
Chinese state-owned companies COSCO Shipping Corporation and China Merchants have a 30 percent stake in Kaohsiung Port’s Kao Ming Container Terminal (Terminal No. 6) and COSCO leases Berths 65 and 66. It is extremely dangerous to allow Chinese companies or state-owned companies to operate critical infrastructure. Deterrence theorists are familiar with the concepts of deterrence “by punishment” and “by denial.” Deterrence by punishment threatens an aggressor with prohibitive costs (like retaliation or sanctions) that outweigh the benefits of their action, while deterrence by denial aims to make an attack so difficult that it becomes pointless. Elbridge Colby, currently serving as the Under
The Ministry of the Interior on Thursday last week said it ordered Internet service providers to block access to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (小紅書, also known as RedNote in English) for a year, citing security risks and more than 1,700 alleged fraud cases on the platform since last year. The order took effect immediately, abruptly affecting more than 3 million users in Taiwan, and sparked discussions among politicians, online influencers and the public. The platform is often described as China’s version of Instagram or Pinterest, combining visual social media with e-commerce, and its users are predominantly young urban women,
Most Hong Kongers ignored the elections for its Legislative Council (LegCo) in 2021 and did so once again on Sunday. Unlike in 2021, moderate democrats who pledged their allegiance to Beijing were absent from the ballots this year. The electoral system overhaul is apparent revenge by Beijing for the democracy movement. On Sunday, the Hong Kong “patriots-only” election of the LegCo had a record-low turnout in the five geographical constituencies, with only 1.3 million people casting their ballots on the only seats that most Hong Kongers are eligible to vote for. Blank and invalid votes were up 50 percent from the previous
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi lit a fuse the moment she declared that trouble for Taiwan means trouble for Japan. Beijing roared, Tokyo braced and like a plot twist nobody expected that early in the story, US President Donald Trump suddenly picked up the phone to talk to her. For a man who normally prefers to keep Asia guessing, the move itself was striking. What followed was even more intriguing. No one outside the room knows the exact phrasing, the tone or the diplomatic eyebrow raises exchanged, but the broad takeaway circulating among people familiar with the call was this: Trump did
RSS