Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) yesterday called suicides in the military “regrettable” and pledged to increase the number of military counselors to prevent further incidents.
Chiu’s pledge came as local media reported 16 cases of suicides or attempted suicides in the military this year, resulting in at least 14 deaths.
That represented an increase from the total of 82 suicide cases from 2017 to 2022, or just under 14 a year, among Taiwan’s 160,000 troops, government data showed.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The most recent case was reported on Monday in Chiayi County. An army lieutenant surnamed Chang (張) was found dead in an apparent suicide inside his own vehicle after he did not report back to base after two days off.
Asked about the case, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of a legislative session that it was regrettable to see these cases.
Several factors are involved when military personnel decide to harm themselves, and not all of them are related to their service record or alleged disciplinary issues, Chiu said.
Aside from the investigations being carried out by judicial authorities, the military is to launch its own investigation into each case to determine its cause, but it will not make public more details related to each case for privacy reasons, he said.
The Ministry of National Defense listed “zero suicides” as its top policy priority in 2016, but it has fallen short of the goal.
During yesterday’s joint meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee and the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, lawmakers questioned Chiu over the lack of military counselors, which they said could explain why there were so many attempted suicides in the military.
The military has only about 400 military counselors who specialize in counseling, social work or psychology for military personnel, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said.
This means that roughly one counselor has to meet the needs of 400 soldiers, Hung said.
With Taiwan extending compulsory military service to one year starting this year, the number of troops is expected to grow to 260,000 by 2029, meaning the military would need to add at least 300 more counselors just to maintain the existing counselor-soldier ratio, the DPP lawmaker said.
Chiu said the military would meet with other agencies and experts in the field to determine how many more counselors it needs.
“It is of course our wish to have as many counselors as possible,” he said.
Chiu also pledged to give the two committees a report on the matter within two months.
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