The Ministry of Defense says that the military has already reached 70% of its recruitment goal for the year.
Defense ministry spokesman David Lo said Tuesday that recent military reforms have made military service more appealing to young people. Recent changes include greater protection of soldiers’ human rights as well as better facilities, educational opportunities and benefits. Lo said this has led to an increase in the number volunteers.
"The recruitment goal for volunteer soldiers is 14,000. By July 16, 23,599 had registered and 9,939 had been confirmed," Lo said. "This is 70.9% of the goal. Also, 68.2% are voluntarily reenlisting, which is 14.8% higher than in 2013 and 2014."
The ministry also said that since they increased benefits for combat troops, their retention rate has increased by 4.8%.
Taiwan’s army is currently transitioning to become an all-volunteer force. The ministry said that they will not give up this goal and that public support for this goal has increased in the past two years.