The Executive Yuan today approved revisions to the Military Service Act and the Act of Military Service for Volunteer Enlisted Soldiers proposed by the Ministry of National Defense (MND) and will submit the drafts to the Legislative Yuan for review.
Premier Sean Chen stated that the Military Service Act is being amended to align it with the all-volunteer system which will begin January 1, 2013. He asked the MND to actively communicate with ruling and opposition legislators to gain their support for passing the amendments during this legislative session. The MND should also proactively coordinate with related agencies, such as the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) and Ministry of Education (MOE), to complete complementary measures related to military training.
The MND noted that it and the MOI have jointly promulgated the date of the all-volunteer system's formal implementation. Starting January 1, 2013, males born after 1994 will only be required to complete four months of military training instead of the previous one-year service term. Aside from the duration of service, the four-month military training will not differ from the current conscript service in any respect. Those in training will have the same status as other soldiers. In order to maintain the efficacy of their military training, training hours that can be deducted from their period of service shall not exceed 15 days.
The major points of the amendment are as follows:
1. Draftees shall begin serving as reservists immediately after completing their four months of military training. Since their training time is drastically lower than that of regular servicemen, it must be spent on areas of real need. In order to safeguard the efficacy of military training, delineate trainees from regular servicemen and meet the principle of fairness and proportionality, the reduction of training hours for regular servicemen and four-month draftees due to participation in military training courses or All-out Defense Education courses during secondary education or above shall not exceed 30 days for regular servicemen and 15 days for draftees. (Article 16)
2. The status of conscripts undergoing four-month training does not differ in any way from that of regular servicemen. All will be considered "military personnel." The remuneration of those in training will be based on the Pay Act of the Armed Forces. Furthermore, relevant regulations are amended to clarify areas concerning draftees' evading military service or violating military codes and the penalties for such actions. (Article 16-1)
The revisions to the Act of Military Service for Volunteer Enlisted Soldiers are meant to increase the personnel base for volunteer soldiers and provide for the discharge of volunteer soldiers who are unfit to serve due to illness, injuries and other reasons, the MND said.
The following are major aspects of those revisions:
1. Recruitment is expanded to include current regular servicemen or alternative service conscripts and residents originally from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau who were previously barred from enlisting in the military unless they had domiciles in Taiwan for an extended number of years. They are now to be governed by the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area and the Laws and Regulations Regarding Hong Kong & Macao Affairs. (Article 3)
2. Volunteer soldiers shall begin at the rank they attained during their mandatory military service. (Article 4)
3. Guidelines and deduction measures for alternative service are established for handling conscripts who are unfit for further military service or have not completed their minimum mandatory service term and will take effect once the all-volunteer system kicks off. (Article 5-1)
4. Current military regulations are applied to volunteer soldiers for evaluation for discharge due to illness, injury or disability; regulations are added to discharge volunteer soldiers unfit for other reasons. (Article 5, Provision 2)