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Negligence, manpower issues could hurt military: Control Yuan

ROC Central News Agency

10/14/2023 06:16 PM

Taipei, Oct. 14 (CNA) Three members of the Control Yuan have demanded that the Ministry of National Defense address the Navy's negligence in drills while devoting more resources to its military academies to bolster Taiwan's combat capabilities.

Wang Mei-yu (王美玉), Lai Ting-ming (賴鼎銘) and Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠) issued their criticisms as part of an investigative report that was reviewed and approved internally on Sept. 21, according to a Control Yuan statement Saturday.

Among the areas found to be deficient, they were critical of the Navy's lack of shooting drills and the poor test results of one of its newest vessels.

They said, for example, that the Naval Fleet Command has not held any surface shooting drills or maintained or trained people on the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System installed on its vessels for three years, according to the statement.

Also, the members found that the Navy's newest Tuo Chiang-class corvette, the ROCS Ta Chiang, tested poorly during drills, and there was no re-examination of its combat capabilities as required in related regulations, the statement said.

Based on that "negligence," they advised the Defense Ministry to hold regular live-fire exercises utilizing those systems to strengthen its vessels' readiness for an emergency or even war.

The Control Yuan report, meanwhile, was also critical of military schools and academies, according to the statement.

It said the schools, which are aimed at helping officers and non-commissioned officers develop applied science and technical skills, had not provided enough resources and support to teachers, students and researchers.

Those shortcomings have meant that 40 percent of teachers have not received mandated promotions in the last eight years, and academic thresholds for selecting students have slid annually, especially in the area of English, the statement said.

The report further highlighted a rising drop-out rate among students in military schools, a problem that the military's counseling system, along with other offices, should investigate, check and amend.

The Control Yuan members also found problems with the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) set up in 1998 to attract more college students to the armed forces during their vacations and after they graduated through lower tuitions and other financial incentives.

They found that the service periods of students enrolled in the ROTC were shorter than the service periods of students in military academies, yet students graduating from the two systems were able to reach the same positions.

That raised the potential problem of students preferring to join the military through the shorter ROTC program, which could further hurt military academy admissions in the long run, the statement said.

The Control Yuan members also urged the Defense Ministry to address understaffing issues in the armed forces, especially lieutenant-level officers and volunteer service personnel.

(By Lai Yu-chen and Oscar Wu)

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