Taiwan has decided to scrap its decades-old military conscription by 2015 in an attempt to trim its force to 200,000, despite the mainland's double-digit-percentage rise in defence spending.
'Beginning January 1, 2015, there will be no more conscripts in the military,' Defence Minister Chen Chao-min announced during a legislative session yesterday.
The number of conscripts will be cut back by at least 10 per cent each year, and military personnel will be recruited on a voluntary basis after that.
To uphold the quality of the voluntary personnel, all soldiers recruited must be at least high school graduates, General Chen stressed.
He said his ministry would also abolish the reserve and military police commands and place those people under the command of the army, navy or air force.
'We hope to complete such mergers by the end of June,' he said.
The plan to phase out conscription was a campaign promise of Ma Ying-jeou during his successful presidential race last year.