WSJ analysis of the discipline of the Taiwanese military “Can’t stop the Chinese military”
“I plucked the grass and removed the leaves during the four months of service”
Bihado, a youth born after 1981, ‘Strawberry’
“The will to enlist is broken due to endless corruption and poor management”
Taiwan’s Defense Minister: “There is no need to panic about the news”
▲ Taiwanese Army. Provided by the Taiwan Ministry of Defense
Although the level of tension between the two sides is rising due to China’s armed protests, an analysis suggests that the Taiwanese army will be degenerate into a ‘Tang army’ due to severe discipline and it will be difficult to stop the Chinese army.
On the 26th (local time), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) questioned the capabilities of the Taiwanese military through a commentary, saying that not many people believe that the Taiwanese military will stop China.
Taiwan’s military has shrunk from 275,000 in 2011 to 188,000 now. Although 80,000 people are drafted every year, the period of service has been reduced from two years to four months. There are 2.2 million people in the reserve force, but some point out that it is difficult to maintain capacity because training is conducted once every 1-2 years.
In particular, the WSJ pointed out that the morale and morale of the Taiwanese military is sluggish. A Taiwanese man in his 20s who completed his military service said, “During four months of training, weeds were pulled, tires were moved, and leaves were swept away.
He called the Taiwanese military ‘strawberry army’ and said he doubts whether the military can really stop the Chinese army. The term ‘strawberry group’ refers to young people born after 1981, and is a term borrowed from the ‘Taiwan strawberry generation’, which expresses the tendency to be easily hurt by being helpless and unable to endure hard work.
Another reservist said, “I watched an American war movie during training.” Some reserve soldiers said they spent their time reading books and drawing pictures.
Documents inside the Taiwan audit agency and the Ministry of National Defense also contained contents such as “Some reserve forces show an attitude of ‘just to pass the time'” and “The youth’s will to enlist is broken due to endless corruption and poor management.”
The newspaper analyzed that the reason for the weakening of discipline was the prevailing views in Taiwan such as ‘the United States will step out in a crisis’ and ‘China will not be able to invade due to pressure from the international community such as the United States’.
In response, some military experts argue that Taiwan needs to reorganize its military organization using Israel as a model. This is advice to strengthen national defense capabilities by accepting the method in which men must serve in the military for two and a half years and women for nearly two years. However, it is questionable whether it can be applied to the Taiwanese military, which has been eliminating the color of the conscription system over the past 10 years, such as mixing the conscription system with the conscription system from three years ago.
On the other hand, Taiwan’s Defense Minister Chu Guo-jing refuted the WSJ’s report that “I have considerable confidence in the military” and that the morale is slack and the morale is seriously low.
Defense Minister Chu Guo-jang said, “There is no need, nor is it necessary, to be intimidated by foreign media reports. We are proud of ourselves.”
By Jeong Hyun-yong, staff reporter junghy77@seoul.co.kr
