MANDATORY MILITARY SERVICE TO BE TRIMMED TO 16 MONTHS FROM 2006
ROC Central News Agency
2005-09-26 16:19:46
Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) The mandatory military service period for local conscripts will be cut to 16 months from the current 18 months from Jan. 1, 2006, Minister of National Defense Lee Jye said Monday.
Addressing a Legislative Yuan Defense Committee meeting, Lee said the compulsory military service period will be further trimmed to one year by July 2008.
Lee also told lawmakers that the military began to promote a volunteers-conscripts mixed system this year, with an ultimate goal of implementing an all-volunteer service system.
According to Lee, the military plans to recruit 6,561 volunteer soldiers this year. As of August, 4,380 volunteers had been recruited, or 67 percent of the target figure. "The smooth recruitment indicates that a voluntary military has gradually received social recognition, " Lee said, adding that the military is set to recruit up to 45,561 volunteer soldiers and reserve non-commissioned officers by the end of 2008.
With a view to upgrading military professionalism, Lee said the Ministry of National Defense (MND) will continue to streamline its recruiting mechanism, revise the existing law to expand the sources of recruitment, ease age limits for those intending to pursue a military career, recruit female soldiers, lower the retirement age, and mobilize reservists to join disaster prevention and relief work.
Meanwhile, Lee said, the MND will coordinate with the Ministry of the Interior to improve conscription operations to lessen social problems that may arise from the fact that some young male adults have to wait a long time before being drafted into mandatory military service.
In line with the Cabinet's efforts to lower the unemployment rate, Lee said the MND will draft 2,000 additional conscripts by the end of this year.
(By Sofia Wu)
enditem/mw
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
