Military aiming to adopt all-volunteer system

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) plans to start implementing the volunteer system in 2010, reducing the number of conscripts annually with an aim to completely revert to the volunteer system in 2013, Defense Minister Chen Chao-min said Thursday.

According to the plan, the size of the troops will then eventually be reduced to 200,000 from the current 300,000 plus.

But the minister said further planning for financing military spending and restructuring the troops is needed.

Under the present conscription system, able-bodied males reaching the age of 18 have to serve in the military for one year.

While there are more conscripts than vacancies in the military, many of them are assigned to various other sectors, including police forces and private businesses, for 14 months of “alternative services.”

The planned revamping of the troops falls in line with President Ma Ying-jeou’s promises made during his presidential campaign that the military will adopt an all-volunteer system.

The ministry’s preliminary planning requires volunteers to serve four years, with a monthly income double the minimum wage, which currently is NT$17,280.

Males who do not volunteer for military services will still need to receive three or four months of basic military training, the defense minister said.

If the plan is implemented as scheduled, students entering the eighth grade after this summer will not have to be drafted.

The plan has sparked mixed reactions and various concerns, including the future lack of people assigned to the alternative services that many sectors presently rely on.

Interior Minister Liao Liou-yi said that participation in Taiwan’s alternative services would still be necessary even after the country’s troops consists only of volunteers.

The minister expressed the hope that the alternative services program will remain in the future.

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