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Streamlining of armed forces will not affect defense: president

ROC Central News Agency

2014/01/23 20:18:34

Taipei, Jan. 23 (CNA) Taiwan's armed forces have been reduced to about 0.93 percent of the country's total population under government streamlining efforts, but President Ma Ying-jeou remains confident that the size of the military is large enough to protect the country.

Ma said Thursday that the 'moderate cutting down' has left Taiwan's military still relatively large from a global perspective and has not impacted its ability to maintain 'strategic objectives' of strong defenses and effective deterrence.

To the contrary, the military is working toward becoming 'small and elite, small and skilled, and small and strong,' Ma said at a Lunar New Year party for defense officials and military officers.

He told them that the push to scrap conscription in favor of an all-volunteer military system was aimed at enhancing its combat abilities by building an elite armed force with fewer soldiers than would be necessary under the current system.

An all-volunteer force will also encourage people to consider military service as a career path, he said, rather than an obligation.

Ma noted that when the Republic of China government relocated to Taiwan in 1949, it had a 600,000 man-strong military, accounting for 10 percent of Taiwan's population at the time.

Taiwan undertook military streamlining beginning in 1998, cutting armed forces personnel to 450,000, or 2 percent of the population, before coming down to just over 200,000, less than 1 percent of Taiwan's 23 million people.

To bolster its volunteer forces, the military aims to recruit 10,000 troops annually over 2015 and 2016 before lowering recruitment goals to around 7,000 beginning in 2017, he said.

Ma however noted that the implementation of an all-volunteer system has been pushed back.

Taiwan originally planned to transition to an all-volunteer force by 2015 but has delayed the date to 2017 on lower-than-expected recruitment figures.

Defense Minister Yen Ming said Monday that Taiwan is planning to cut the country's military personnel to less than 200,000 by the end of 2019 as it moves forward with streamlining.

'We plan to cut the number of troops to between 170,000 and 190,000' from the 215,000 target for the end of 2014, Yen said.

(By Claudia Liu and Y.L. Kao)
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