It’s About Time that the “Bad Hand of an All Volunteer Force” Be Coped With

 It’s About Time that the “Bad Hand of an All Volunteer Force” Be Coped With

 United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)

July 19, 2017

 Translation of an Except

In accordance with planning of the government for military service transformation, starting next New Year's Day, the obligatory one-year military service will be terminated; by the end of next year, the three services, i.e., the army, navy, and air force, shall be composed of an all volunteer force. However, in recent years, as society has lowered its respect for the military, plus heated disputes over pension reforms for the military, civil servants and public school teachers, it is still difficult for the all volunteer force to reach the target. Former foreign minister Fredrick Chien recently even revealed that US officials warned Taiwan's security must rely on itself, and that an all volunteer force was a mistaken policy which should be reverted to conscription.

The cruel fact at present is with the current scale of the armed forces, whether they can safeguard the security in the Taiwan Strait is problematic, not to mention once conscription is ended, solely relying on an all volunteer force, not even the existing scale can be maintained. Right now, further postponing the deadline of ending conscription, seeking time for a respite, and at the same time, studying the revival of conscription, we are afraid, may be the only path.

In recent years, military morale has been losing ground, leading to difficulties in recruitment. One reason is that in recent years, for officials in charge of the Defense Ministry, only those sycophants and those Potemkin types have been left, and not seeing any that defend their stance with moral courage. The second reason is that populist politics is supreme; the electorate and politicians engage in mutual deception, pretending that there are endless free lunches. These are the main reasons why Taiwan's national strength and military strength have been dwindling. The Tsai government stirred up cross-Strait tensions, so it must strengthen its strategy in the Taiwan Strait, consolidating military strength and cannot just keep provoking without any counter strategies. Therefore, what has become the “bad hand of an all volunteer force,” which has become the “emperor’s new robe,” has to be coped with seriously. 

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