• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

All-volunteer military service to go into effect as scheduled

ROC Central News Agency

2012/11/12 23:25:00

Taipei, Nov. 12 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Monday reaffirmed the all-volunteer military service system is being implemented as scheduled, rebutting a newspaper editorial that speculates the policy might be withdrawn.

The editorial published on China Times' Monday edition "misunderstood" what Defense Minister Kao Hua-chu had said about the policy while answering questions by lawmakers at the Legislative Yuan last week, the MND said in a statement.

The article said Kao told the Legislature that the planned all-volunteer military service system would possibly be withdrawn, and that if the conscription mechanism were to remain longer, the period of time the enlisted men are obligated to serve would have to be extended to two years from the current one year.

The editorial criticized that if the all-volunteer military service policy is withdrawn and the conscription system is continued, it means the Ma Ying-jeou government has backpedalled on its reform promises.

In its statement, the MND explained that Kao was asked by lawmakers in a meeting of the legislative Foreign and National Defense Committee Nov. 5 to answer a hypothesized question: What would the MND do if it were not able to enforce the all-volunteer military service system due to financial woes.

In reply, Kao said that in its amendments to the Act of Military Service System last year, the MND has left open a possibility of reinstating the conscription system at a time when the nation is under threats, the statement said.

Currently, the MND is continuing to collaborate with the relevant government agencies and units to carry out different stages of preparations for the full enforcement of the all-volunteer military service system by the end of 2014, the statement said.

It noted that the Cabinet has allocated appropriate budgets for the recruitment of volunteering military forces in 2013.

(By Emmanuelle Tzeng and Elizabeth Hsu)
enditem/sc