Lawmakers have proposed amendments to rules governing alternative military service to enable former non-military conscripts to be recalled for reservist training.
The proposal was part of a legislative report reviewed by the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper).
The National Conscription Agency drafted the report in response to criticism that the recall and training program for non-military conscripts was too short, summoned few people and did not impart relevant skills.
Photo: Chen Chien-chih, Taipei Times
The agency recalled 2,958 former alternative service conscripts last year and increased that number to 4,000 this year, the ministry said in the report, adding that plans have been made to expand the training program on a yearly basis.
Citing the lawmakers’ proposal, the agency said the amendments would expand the program to recall 10,000 former alternative service members for military and disaster response training for an extended period of four to five days.
The proposed amendments include penalties for dodging the recall and stipulations that require the program be funded by the Ministry of the Interior, rather than government organizations that draw personnel from alternative service, it said.
In 2021, Taiwan recalled 1,565 former alternative service conscripts for defense mobilization and disaster relief training out of 181,904 total former alternative service members enlisted over the previous eight years, according to a report by the Legislative Yuan’s budget center.
This means only 0.86 percent of available personnel were utilized by the program.
The amendments appeared to be linked to the government’s efforts to improve the nation’s utilization of reservists following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Separately, the Ministry of National Defense has revealed that refresher training for former soldiers would be extended from between five and seven days to two weeks.
The refresher training would emphasize tactical proficiency and marching, and be conducted in the reservist unit’s wartime area of responsibility.
An estimated 22,000 former military service members would take part in the new training program, while 96,000 would take part in the old program.
A Keelung high school on Saturday night apologized for using a picture containing a Chinese flag on the cover of the senior yearbook, adding that it has recalled the books and pledged to provide students new ones before graduation on Thursday. Of 309 Affiliated Keelung Maritime Senior High School of National Taiwan Ocean University graduates, 248 had purchased the yearbook. Some students said that the printer committed an outrageous error in including the picture, while others said that nobody would notice such a small flag on the cover. Other students said that they cared more about the photographs of classmates and what was
GOING INTERNATIONAL: Rakuten Girls squad leader Ula Shen said she was surprised that baseball fans outside of Taiwan not only knew of them, but also knew their names Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics on Saturday hosted its first Taiwanese Heritage Day event at the Oakland Coliseum with a performance by Taiwanese cheerleading squad the Rakuten Girls and a video message from Vice President William Lai (賴清德). The Rakuten Girls, who are the cheerleaders for the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, performed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 people, followed by a prerecorded address by Lai about Taiwan’s baseball culture and democratic spirit. Taiwanese pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸), who was signed by the Athletics earlier this year, was also present. Mizuki Lin (林襄), considered a “baseball cheerleading goddess” by Taiwanese
WAY OF THE RUKAI: ‘Values deemed worthy often exist amid discomfort, so when people go against the flow, nature becomes entwined with our lives,’ a student said “Run, don’t walk” after your dreams, Nvidia cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) told National Taiwan University (NTU) graduates yesterday, as several major universities held in-person graduation ceremonies for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. “What will you create? Whatever it is, run after it. Run, don’t walk. Remember, either you’re running for food, or you are running from becoming food. Oftentimes, you can’t tell which. Either way, run,” he said. Huang was one of several tech executives addressing graduating students at Taiwanese universities. National Chengchi University held two ceremonies, with alumnus Patrick Pan (潘先國), who is head of Taiwan
A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people lining up — both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles. Since “The Ramen Boy” launched the limited-edition noodle bowl on Monday last week, declaring in a social media post that it had “finally got this dream ingredient,” more than 100 people have joined a waiting list to dine at the restaurant. “It is so attractive because of its appearance — it looks very cute,” said the 37-year-old owner of the restaurant, who wanted to be
RSS