Conscripts performing their mandatory military service would be assigned to military bases based on their expertise, the locations where their households are registered and personal preference, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
One-year mandatory military service for men is to resume next year.
Citing the ministry’s budget plan for next year, Chieh Chung (揭仲), an associate research fellow at the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) National Policy Foundation think tank, on Sunday said that 700 conscripts, or one in every 13, would be deployed to outlying islands.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
The ministry yesterday said that, in general, those who would be deployed to outlying islands would have a medium or high level of expertise, have their homes registered on outlying islands or prefer to be stationed there.
“Conscripts deployed to outlying islands would receive complete training, including the training given to every conscript in any standing troop and specialized training for conscripts stationed on outlying islands. The military bases would have sufficient resources to meet training demands,” the ministry said.
In addition to military stipends, conscripts would receive additional subsidies based on where they are stationed and their expertise, it said.
“On the principle of equality, all conscripts would undergo one year of military training, regardless of where they do the compulsory service,” the ministry said.
The ministry’s budget plan for next year also shows that the Medical Affairs Bureau is to be allocated NT$980 million (US$30.74 million) over the next four years to upgrade its medical equipment, which the ministry said “would support tasks involving medical emergencies and severe medical injuries during wartime” and “support the missions of combat troops.”
The new equipment would include mobile X-ray machines, C-arms for surgical imaging, freezers that can store blood at minus-40°C and refrigerators that can store blood at 4°C.
Next year’s budget for medical equipment would be NT$257 million, the ministry said.
“The procurement is a regular procedure that is conducted based on five-year investment plans proposed by different military hospitals and the amount of equipment that has reached retirement age. The way that we build up medical capacity is no different from that in other countries. There is no need to overinterpret the significance of the project,” it said.
The ministry has allocated NT$43.70 million to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Whampoa Military Academy next year, which is now known as the Republic of China Military Academy.
Although the academy, founded by Sun Yat-sen in 1924, produced commanders who fought in many of China’s conflicts in the 20th century, China aimed to use the celebration of the academy’s 99th anniversary in June to reinforce the “orthodoxy of the regime” and claim ownership of the academy’s heritage, the ministry said.
For the 100th anniversary celebrations, there would be drone performances and cadets marching with a new style of goose step, it added.
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