The Ministry of National Defense should extend military service from four months to at least one year, defense experts said yesterday.
The four months of military service in Taiwan are divided into five weeks of basic training and 11 weeks of specialized training at a military branch training center, which is usually near where recruits live.
The four months are only one-fifth as long as the mandatory service required of South Koreans, and yet Taiwan is faced with a greater danger than South Korea, retired air force lieutenant general Chang Yen-ting (張延廷) said.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
The Afghan army — despite being trained by the US military, and supplied with US arms and equipment — lacked the morale and will to fight, Chang said, citing the collapse of the US-backed government in Afghanistan.
“Building up mental preparedness is more important than national defense,” Chang added.
If the government wants to back up its claim that Taiwan would fight to the last soldier, it needs people willing to take up arms, and that requires a combination of conscription and voluntary service, he said.
Given the threat that China poses to Taiwan, the ministry would be derelict in its duties not to extend military service, Chang said, adding that Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) must recommend to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) that mandatory military service be extended to two years.
National Chengchi University international affairs professor Chen Wen-chia (陳文甲) also urged the military to extend mandatory service to at least one year so that volunteer personnel are free to focus on combat training.
The four months of training teach nothing of substance, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷) said, adding that the gaps between refresher training are too long and people forget almost everything.
Policy calls for one week of basic training before reservists are sent to battle, but with modern warfare tactics, they are unlikely to fare well in a war with one week, he said.
The military needs personnel and weapons if it is to live up to the government’s expectation to “fight to the last soldier,” he added.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟), a member of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, said that extending mandatory service or bringing back a conscription system is difficult in a democratic society.
Reservists in Israel and Singapore know where and who to report to in a time of war, and it would be more practical for Taiwan to set up its reservists like that, Chao said.
In other news, Deputy Chief of Staff Logistics Major General Hsu Chin-teng (許金騰) yesterday said that the ministry has agreed on funding for logistics, maintenance, fuel and munitions subsidies, and has forwarded a request to the Executive Yuan.
If approved, the subsidies would be distributed on Nov. 1, he said.
Chao said he has since October last year asked the ministry repeatedly how it would fund the maintenance costs resulting from a rise in Chinese incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.
“Money is not the problem. It’s a matter of resolve,” Chao said, adding that the president has also expressed the hope that the funds could be distributed within a year.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
‘POLITICAL GAME’: DPP lawmakers said the motion would not meet the legislative threshold needed, and accused the KMT and the TPP of trivializing the Constitution The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against President William Lai (賴清德), saying he had undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order and democracy. The motion was approved 61-50 by lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together hold a legislative majority. Under the motion, a roll call vote for impeachment would be held on May 19 next year, after various hearings are held and Lai is given the chance to defend himself. The move came after Lai on Monday last week did not promulgate an amendment passed by the legislature that
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
RSS