The government is planning to reduce the size of the nation’s military to below 200,000 members by the end of 2019 as part of efforts to streamline it, Minister of National Defense Yen Ming (嚴明) said on Monday night.
According to a draft plan, the military will undergo downsizing from 2015 to 2019 under a draft plan, he said.
Under the streamlining program, “we plan to cut the number of troops to between 170,000 and 190,000,” from the 215,000 target for the end of this year, he said
The plan is part of the military’s effort to adjust the organization of the nation’s defense apparatus and restructure the armed forces, he said.
The plan has taken into consideration such factors as the type of combat operations in the future, government finances and the weapons in the military’s arsenal, Yen said, adding that the deployment of high-tech weapons systems would allow the military to cut its personnel.
This will also help achieve the goal of building a military force that is “small, but elite; small, but skillful; small, but strong,” he said.
Yen reiterated the government’s determination to shift to an all-volunteer force, citing measures aimed at giving young people more incentives to pursue a military career.
For example, since Jan. 1, the government has raised monthly allowances given to volunteer soldiers and non-commissioned officers to between NT$2,000 and NT$4,000 per month.
The government plans to shift to an all-volunteer force by 2017.
It originally planned for the transition to be completed by next year, but pushed the date back due to lower-than-expected recruitment numbers.
The military will need to recruit more than 10,000 servicemen annually next year and 2016, but that number will fall to about 7,000 beginning in 2017, Yen said.
Tropical Storm Koinu is expected to come closest to Taiwan from Wednesday through Friday as it passes through the Bashi Channel, but it remained uncertain how it would affect the weather, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am yesterday, Koinu was about 1,000km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving northwest at 12kph, the CWA said. Koinu is likely to strengthen into a typhoon today or tomorrow and turn west as it enters the Bashi Channel to the south of Taiwan proper, CWA forecaster Chao Hung (趙竑) said. The storm’s trajectory is still unclear, so more time is
Taichung prosecutors yesterday indicted three people on charges of fraud for allegedly passing off watches assembled in Taiwan as Swiss-made timepieces and earning NT$400 million (US$12.4 million) in illicit gains. The Taichung branch office of the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau said in a statement that the group, headed by Mei Hua Precision Industry Co (梅華精密) and Laora Trading Co (仁徠貿易) manager Yang Hung-pin (楊鴻斌), had purchased the rights to use the Swiss trademark Ogival years ago and from November 2006 to December 2020 sold 26,282 counterfeit watches in department stores and online platforms in Taiwan. The branch office said they received
PALAU LAUNCHES: The source said that Taiwanese military personnel traveled to Palau, where a US brigade watched their work amid plans for a defense network The military last month participated in live-fire launches of MM-104F Patriot (PAC-3) missiles under US observation in an undisclosed location in Palau, a step forward in a US-led plan to create a joint defense missile system in the first island chain, a source said on condition of anonymity. The PAC-3 is the mainstay surface-to-air missile of the US, NATO and democratic nations in East Asia, the source said, adding that it has never been live-tested within Taiwan’s borders, the source said. The proximity of Taiwan to China and China’s close surveillance of the nation’s borders and nearby sea zones is a significant
TRAJECTORY: Koinu’s outer rim is expected to reach Orchid Island early tomorrow and Taitung at about noon, where waves of at least 6m are forecast A sea warning for Typhoon Koinu was issued at 11:30pm last night, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that a land warning could be issued today. High waves of about 2m were observed in Taitung yesterday, while waves of 6m or higher were forecast for today, said Huang Chia-mei (黃嘉美), head of the CWA’s Taitung Weather Station. At noon yesterday, Koinu was about 660km southeast of Taitung, she said, adding that it was moving more to the north and its center could possibly make landfall. The storm’s outer rim would likely reach Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) in the early hours tomorrow and
RSS