A significantly declining adult population might cause recruitment problems for the military, a government report said on Friday, citing forecasts based on the country’s birthrate, which has been declining over the past few years.
The number of registered births in Taiwan has dropped from 196,627 in 2011 to a record low of 153,820 last year, the report said, citing data from the Ministry of the Interior.
The decline is expected to continue over the next few years, posing a problem for the recruitment of military service members, according to the report, which was released by the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The problem would affect Taiwan’s hybrid military recruitment system, which mandates the conscription of male citizens aged 18 or older for at least four months of training and relies largely on voluntary enlistment by citizens of both sexes, the report said.
The number of new conscripts would this year be 118,000 or less, the lowest number in nearly 10 years, it said.
From 2012 to 2016, the number of men of military conscription age fell to an average of 168,000 per year, dropping further to 138,000 in 2017, it said.
With the birthrate unlikely to recover in the next few years, the report said the problem would likely get worse.
Taiwan in 2013 implemented a voluntary military enlistment system and revised its conscription regulations, which had been in place since 1945.
The latest data showed that the military comprises 180,000 people, 15 percent of whom were women, and voluntary enlistments accounted for 84.98 percent.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS