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.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
RSS