New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) on Friday urged the government to increase the military conscription period to one year, citing the effectiveness of Ukraine’s defense against Russia.
Chiu, speaking during a session of the Legislative Yuan, said that conscription appears to have played a large role in bolstering Ukraine’s ability to exact a heavy price on Russia, which invaded its eastern European neighbor on Feb. 24.
The Taiwanese military — which discharged its last group of mandatory conscripts in December 2018 — is mostly comprised of volunteers, although men are still obligated to complete four months of military training and could be called up in war.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan should not rely on a small volunteer force for its defense, when its neighbor is a hostile and authoritarian state, Chiu said, adding that the four-month conscription period is too short.
Reservists should also be able to participate in rigorous training if they wish, and incentives for advanced training should be offered, he said.
Some civilian groups have been providing volunteers with training using air guns, which shows that a large number of people are willing to defend the country, he said.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
Almost no traffic controls or civilian participation are involved in the Wanan air raid drills, which offer inadequate preparation for Taiwanese, he said, adding that the drills should be more realistic.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that the nation should have a dialogue about the all-volunteer force and that policies should be created to provide extra training to willing reservists.
Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said that conscripts on four-year service terms make up a small part of the nation’s armed forces compared with volunteers on four-year contracts, who make up 90 percent of the military.
The military welcomes reservists who wish to volunteer for additional training and the Ministry of National Defense would offer incentives if the need arises, he said, adding that people playing with novelty weapons does not necessarily equate with being proper field training.
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
BIG YEAR: The company said it would also release its A12 chip the same year to keep a ‘reliable stream of new silicon technologies’ flowing to its customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its newest A13 chip is to enter volume production in 2029 as the chipmaker seeks to hold onto its tech leadership and demand for next-generation chips used in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance-computing (HPC) and mobile applications. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, also unveiled its A12 chip at its annual technology symposium in Santa Clara, California. The A12 chip, which features TSMC’s super-power-rail technology to provide backside power delivery for AI and HPC applications, is also to enter volume production in 2029, a year after the scheduled release of the A14 chip. The technology moves
RSS