By 2005, Taiwan's military is to begin a transition from its dependency on conscription to a system of voluntary enlistment to fill the bulk of its ranks, sources told the Taipei Times yesterday.
The sources said that the military's end-goal is to recruit as many as 100,000 "physically competent men" to serve as the first corps of professional soldiers in ROC history. These professional soldiers are to account for half of the number of the armed forces, with the other half taken from military academies.
It is not clear how soon conscription will be completely abolished as a result, they said, but chances are that the compulsory service term of one year and ten months will be gradually shortened to enable the plan to be implemented.
The term of service for such professional soldiers is to be four years, they said. Although entry-level salaries have not been decided, they would not be less than the monthly NT$30,000 currently paid to enlisted non-commissioned officers (NCOs).
The Ministry of National Defense has apparently already worked out all the details for executing the plan, which was first brought forward by former Minister of National Defense Chiang Chung-ling (
The success of the plan will depend on the ongoing "Chingshih" (精實) personnel streamlining program, which is to enter its second stage next year.
In the second stage of the program, the military plans to reduce troop numbers from the current 380,000 to 320,000, in order to create space within the ranks for the new professional soldiers.
In a recent interview with a Chinese-language newspaper, defense minister and premier-select Tang Fei (
Tang said it is possible to reach that goal in 10 years as long as the mobilization of reserves is conducted properly.
"The major difficulty the plan faces is lack of funds. That's why the military wants to further cut down troop numbers, so as to save expenditure on personnel," said an official with the defense ministry, who declined to be identified.
"The military also plans to save more money for the project by transferring aircraft or wheeled vehicle maintenance jobs to civilian companies. The ultimate goal is to simplify and specialize the tasks and missions of the armed forces," the official said.
Su Chin-chiang (
"The military wants to place all these new professional soldiers in combat units, especially the special forces. It might not be able to get as many people as it wants at the beginning, so it plans to keep the ratio between professional soldiers and servicemen sourced from military academies at 50-50," Su said.
"It is good that the military is moving in this direction. But what's more important for the military is to increase the number of NCOs, not that of soldiers. NCOs are more vital for the formation of combat strength in the armed forces," he said.
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