Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) yesterday announced that the armed forces will be transformed into joint-operations "defense forces," but he gave few details and said that the Ministry of National Defense (MND) will not rush into the project until it is ready.
"The structural adjustment will be so large that it will surely bring some pain to all service members involved. We will make full preparations before turning the plans into reality," Tang said.
He made the announcement yesterday while visiting the legislative caucus of the People First Party (PFP) to exchange opinions on defense affairs.
The reform would represent the most ambitious goal that Tang has set for the military.
It would eliminate the boundaries between the armed services that have prevented cooperation between them for decades.
Tang did not explain what the defense forces will be like, suggesting that the plan might still be at the concept level.
Speculation about the project is now circulating in the military as to what form the defense forces will take. Nevertheless, the suggestion is that independent combat groups will comprise ground, air and naval forces.
Whatever the design, the army is expected to take command of the air force and navy elements of the forces.
This kind of command system was used in the Sept. 4 Hankuang No. 19 exercise, in which the three armed services operated jointly under orders from the army.
Retired naval Vice Admiral Lan Ling-li (
"The MND should try to convince the public of the feasibility of the plan by assessment results. They should convince us by data, not by words," Lan said. "There have been examples in foreign countries, Canada, for instance, of developing so-called defense forces. But the experiment did not succeed."
"The MND might think that annual defense spending will fall after the defense forces are activated. It might be a wishful thinking," he said.
The MND also needs to persuade lawmakers to amend two defense-related laws, the National Defense Law (國防法) and the Organizational Law of the MND (國防部組織法), to provide a legal basis for some of the structural changes.
One of the changes is to transform the office of the chief of the general staff into a structure similar to the joint chiefs of staff of the US military, sources said.
Under the new structure, the commanders-in-chief of the army, air force and navy will be downgraded and become members of the joint chiefs of staff, providing advice to the president and defense minister. Their command power will be switched to chief of the general staff.
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