The Defense Law and the Revised Defense Ministry's Organizational Law, which were passed by the legislature on Saturday, form the basis for several significant reforms in the military, including the downgrading of the political warfare system.
This system, established in 1949 following the government's retreat to Taiwan, has played a vital role in the military and has been used to monitor commanders at various levels for any sign of disloyalty, maintain discipline, boost morale, provide psychological counseling services as well as to prepare and carry out the "political education" of troops.
The system, which has grown into a mammoth structure after decades of development, is to undergo its largest-ever structural reform, with its top body -- the general political warfare department of the Ministry of National Defense (MND) -- set to be downgraded from a semi-service command status and broken up into two subordinate departments under the defense minister and the chief of the general staff.
The downgrading of the general political warfare department will mean that political warfare personnel will have much less power than they have now and that there will be fewer positions, especially high-ranking ones, available to them.
The proposed change has inevitably aroused much complaint from political warfare personnel, but they have refrained from open criticism for fear of potential counter-effects.
Scholars, however, generally applaud the development, which they believe is the consequence of organizational necessity.
"The political warfare system was borrowed from the Red Army of the Soviet Union. It was established by late President Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) to counter the political commissar system of the communists," says Yang Chih-heng (楊志恆), deputy director of the strategic and international studies division of Taiwan Research Institute.
"The system has often been at loggerheads with other sectors of the military. Its personnel do not find much common ground with officers from other branches of the service," Yang said.
"Changes to the political warfare system are necessary, especially for the democratization of the country. It will be better for its personnel to be focused on political education and morale in the future," he said.
Bih Yun-hao (
Despite praise for the academic community, the reform has not been well received by political warfare personnel especially in respect to the reduction of positions available for promotion that will be one of the main effects of the reform.
A lieutenant colonel of the political warfare system, who declined to be identified, pointed out that there are already serious problems with the promotion of personnel and that these problems will only worsen after the system is downgraded.
This is the result of the on-going Ching-shih personnel streamlining project (
Among political warfare officers ranked as captains or majors, who were qualified for promotions this year, the officer said, only around one-eighth of the captains and one-sixth of the majors will be able to get promotions to major and lieutenant colonel.
"The morale of political warfare personnel is pretty low at the moment. They do not see any future in the armed forces. Many of them might opt for early retirement because of the lack of chances to obtain higher rank based on seniority," he said.
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