President Ma Ying-jeou says Taiwan is not running short of volunteer soldiers. He also says many people have enlisted this year after the government implemented measures to offer higher salaries and improve the working environment.
Ma made the comments on Saturday at a military recruitment event in New Taipei City. The government is planning to cut the number of troops from 220,000 to around 180,000. The goal is to shift from a conscript-based military to an all-volunteer military. But last year, the military did not even manage to fill half of the vacancies.
President Ma said the case of an army conscript who died after allegedly being abused in the military led people to think that it will be impossible for Taiwan to shift to an all-volunteer military system.
However, Ma said this year, military recruitments have been on the rise. He also said since his administration started to push for a shift to an all-volunteer military system, the quality of military personnel has improved significantly.