Defense experts called on the Ministry of Defense to create a standard code for maintaining discipline, after local media on Saturday reported that nine officers were reprimanded for administering inappropriate punishments to a conscript in Kinmen.
Earlier last week, a boot camp recruit surnamed Chung (鍾) was stripped of his shirt and had icepacks placed against his armpits and crotch as a punishment for napping during physical training, the Kinmen Defense Command confirmed on Saturday.
The command cadre of the battalion, including the battalion commander, the political warfare officer and the sergeant who ordered the drill have been transferred and could face criminal charges depending on the results of a military police investigation, it added.
Photo: CNA
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) on Saturday questioned the proportionality of the punishment against the officials.
“The Ministry of National Defense should create a code of discipline and training that is standardized across the branches of the armed forces,” said retired army major general Richard Hu (胡瑞舟), a researcher at the Taiwan Center for Security Studies.
Forced standing, extra physical training, self-critique, and the cancelation of leave and other privileges are acceptable methods of punishment that should be codified into the guideline, while lawbreakers should face criminal charges, Hu said.
Creating a separate system of military justice is not necessary for maintaining discipline, he added.
“The Japan Self-Defense Forces have no military courts, and the French Armed Forces only convene these types of courts in extraordinary circumstances. These countries show us that it is possible to have well-disciplined troops without resorting to military courts,” Hu said.
National Chengchi University international affairs professor Chen Wen-chia (陳文甲) said that the culture of command responsibility and mutual aid must be improved in the armed forces.
A unit’s command personnel must understand that they are responsible for the actions taken by their subordinates and that the law is to be followed to the letter, he said, adding that the public must also appreciate the necessity of collective punishment in the military.
“Complete trust and flawless teamwork must exist for a military organization to function,” he said. “Knowing how to strike a balance between discipline and trust is the test of good leadership.”
Shu Hsiao-huang (舒孝煌), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the military should enhance recruit training, such as by putting more emphasis on field exercises and honing combat skills.
“Collective punishment is perhaps necessary for the military, but those in charge should do more to understand why such incidents occur before taking disciplinary measures,” he said.
If the top brass overreacts to perceived failures, they risk causing discontent in the junior and noncommissioned officers who form the backbone of the military, or making instructors too wary of disciplining troops at all, he said.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
The US’ joint strikes with Israel on Iran dismantled a key pillar of China’s regional strategy, removing an important piece in Beijing’s potential Taiwan Strait scenario, said Zineb Riboua, a senior researcher at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Middle East Peace and Security. In an article titled: “The Iran Question Is All About China,” Riboua said that understanding the Iran issue in the context of China’s “grand strategy” is essential to fully grasp the complexity of the situation. Beijing has spent billions of dollars over the years turning Iran into a “structural strategic asset,” diverting US military resources in the
RSS