The number of celebrities involved in the military draft dodging scandal has continued to rise. Prosecutors and police during the third round of probes took several celebrities into custody — including actors Hsiu Chieh-kai (修杰楷) and Chen Bo-lin (陳柏霖), boy band Energy member Chang Shu-wei (張書偉) and former boy band Lollipop member Leow Jun-jie (廖俊傑) — on suspicion of evading service by forging medical documents. Several of them confessed.
The Ministry of the Interior said that after comparing the case files of a group suspected of faking blood pressure reports to be fully or partially exempted from service, it found 92 cases with a high degree of overlap with the current investigation. The ministry said it forwarded the cases to 16 district prosecutors’ offices for further investigation and requested that the local governments where the people are registered expedite their conscription.
Under articles 3, 4 and 13 of the Punishment Act for Violation to Military Service System (妨害兵役治罪條例), those who evade conscription or recall by fabricating a reason for exemption or intentionally injuring themselves are subject to a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
However, judges typically only hand down sentences of three to four months — close to the minimum of two months. The sentences can often be fulfilled through paying a fine, which effectively allows offenders to pay their way out of doing time.
Since men older than 36 and those who obtain an “exempt” physical classification are permanently exempted from military service and recalls, it is no surprise that cases of draft evasion have continued to surface.
Given the tensions across the Taiwan Strait and the looming threat, the government should look to German military law to prevent the growing number of draft dodging cases from undermining military morale and creating a copycats.
The German military penal code stipulates that to maintain military discipline, the court cannot impose a fine on a soldier if there are circumstances to their crime that necessitate a prison sentence. For prison sentences that exceed six months, the court must refuse to grant the offender probation if maintaining discipline requires it.
Taiwan could amend the articles 3, 4 and 13 of the act to raise the minimum penalty for evading military service from two months to six months or one year of imprisonment. This would eliminate the loophole that allows judges to easily grant offenders probation or commute their sentences to monetary fines.
To address the loophole in Article 3, which states, “A man aged 18 starts his military service day from January 1st of the proceeding year and be discharged on December 31st of the year at the age of 36” — the Ministry of National Defense and the interior ministry should consider the Legislative Yuan’s Legal Affairs Bureau’s proposal to extend the discharge age for those who intentionally dodge the draft. That would also help maintain fairness within Taiwan’s military.
Chao Hsuey-wen is an assistant professor and holds a doctorate in law from Fu Jen Catholic University.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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