6 female soldiers to serve on South China Sea islands
ROC Central News Agency
2013/05/28 23:08:37
Taipei, May 28 (CNA) Six female volunteer soldiers are to be posted on remote Taiwan-controlled islands in the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said Tuesday.
The six women, aged between 19 and 24, will be the first female Taiwanese soldiers ever to serve on the Dongsha (Pratas) Islands and Taiping Island in the Spratly Islands, according to the administration.
They are among some 21 volunteer soldiers who are receiving training for service on the two South China Sea islands, a CGA official said.
"Three of them are preparing to work on the Dongsha Islands and the other three are going to Taiping Island," the official said.
At present, 100 soldiers and officers are serving on Taiping Island, the largest islet in the Spratlys, while 150 officers and enlisted men are working on the Dongsha Islands.
"All of them are men," the CGA official said.
The six women are scheduled to begin their service on the islands in late June, the official said, adding that relevant facilities, including female dormitories, have been set up in preparation for their arrival.
Taiping Island lies 1,600 km to the southwest of Kaohsiung, while the Dongsha islands are 450 km to the southwest of the southern port city.
As Taiwan has decided to move from a conscription to an all-volunteer military by the end of 2014, the CGA has been carrying out a recruitment drive since the beginning of this year.
(By Liu Chien-pang and Sofia Wu)
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