The fully volunteer military program will be promoted in a gradual manner, with the number of uniformed men and women recruited through a voluntary enlistment system increasing 10 percent year-on-year from 2010 and eventually reaching a fully volunteer force by 2014, Chang said during a forum held in Taipei.

Chang said the government will take advantage of the eased atmosphere across the Taiwan Strait to restructure the military to make it a modern defense force that can help maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait on a long-term basis.