Potential conscripts expressed mixed reactions over a significant pay raise announced by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Tuesday, after the government extended compulsory military service from four months to one year.
Tsai said the decision to extend compulsory military service was a tough one, but it had to be made “for the sustainable development and survival of Taiwan,” given that it takes more than four months to train a qualified solider.
Tsai also pledged to increase conscripts’ monthly pay, from a starting salary of NT$6,510 to NT$20,320, to ensure they have enough to cover basic daily expenses.
The military would also spend NT$5,987 per month on insurance coverage and food for each conscript, regardless of their length of service, which when added to the salary would come to NT$26,307 per month.
The plan would affect conscripts born on or after Jan. 1, 2005, and would take effect on Jan. 1, 2024.
The military estimated that 9,127 conscripts would serve for one year in the first year of the program.
A high-school student surnamed Chen (陳) who was born in 2006 and is likely to be required to complete a full year of military service, said on Tuesday that the extension had been anticipated in the past few months and the announcement was not a total surprise.
None of his classmates were talking about the service extension, he said.
“I suspect it is because there is no escape [from the extension], so whatever,” he said.
Asked if he believed the pay raise was a good incentive for the longer service period, Chen said it meant nothing to him, because “serving in the military means losing my freedom.”
Another high-school student surnamed Su (蘇) disagreed, saying that he believed one year of military service was “acceptable.”
“Four months is too short [for training], and one year could be more sufficient,” he said.
Su said the starting salary of more than NT$20,000 was also acceptable.
“After all, one might not be able to find a higher-paying job with a college degree,” he said.
Meanwhile, a man surnamed Wang (王) who did his military service in Taoyuan said that every month he spent NT$5,000 of his NT$6,510 salary to pay back student loans.
To save money, Wang, who lives in New Taipei City, said he rode his scooter to and from his military base in Taoyuan.
Others serving with him who lived in southern Taiwan spent almost all of their monthly pay on travel and daily expenses, he said, calling the pay increase “belated justice.”
Another man, surnamed Mai (梅), who served one year in a Hsinchu armored brigade during his service period, applauded the decision, saying it would help conscripts save money for emergencies.
Meanwhile, Han Gan-ming (韓岡明), a research fellow at the government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), said he believed the raise would make conscripts affected by the longer service period less angry and give them more incentive to serve.
INDSR research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said the government did its best to offer a significant pay raise, which should be applauded.
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