National Defense

Taiwan's current national defense policy is based on defending its national territory through military preparedness, effective deterrence, and resolute defense.

In response to the changing international strategic environment and military threats from China, Taiwan’s current national defense policy is based on the following concepts:

• Preventing war and conflicts by establishing a sustainable defense and deterrence capability.
   
• Maintaining stability in the Taiwan Strait through dialogue and the exchange of security information, transparency in military affairs, and increased mutual understanding between Taiwan and China.
   
• Defending the national territory through military preparedness, effective deterrence, and resolute defense.

Article 36 of the ROC Constitution states that the president of the republic “shall have supreme command of the land, sea, and air forces of the whole country.” The president instructs the minister of national defense, who in turn orders the chief of the general staff to command and execute the president’s directives.

Within the Ministry of National Defense (MND) 國防部 is the General Staff Headquarters, which is headed by the chief of the general staff. In addition to being in charge of military affairs, this individual acts as the chief of staff to the president for operational matters in the military command system and serves as chief of staff to the minister of national defense in the administrative system.

The MND is responsible for formulating military strategy, setting military personnel policies, formulating draft and mobilization plans, delineating supply distribution policies, arranging the R&D of military technology, compiling the budget for national defense, setting military regulations, conducting court martial proceedings, and administering military law.

Officers in the ROC military consist of graduates of military academies who have become career officers (15 percent), graduates of different specialized military schools serving shorter terms of duty (65 percent), and college graduates who have passed a written test to become reserve officers (20 percent). The ratio of officers to noncommissioned officers is about 1:1.76, and the ratio of officers to enlisted men is roughly 1:1.96. Thus, the ratio of officers to soldiers is approximately 1:3.72.

The ROC’s Military Service Law 兵役法 requires all males in the Republic of China to fulfill military service. Article 3 of this law states: “Male persons shall be liable for military service on January 1 of the year immediately following the year during which they reach the age of 18, and shall no longer be drafted for service beginning on December 31 of the year during which they reach the age of 40.” Citizens who have been sentenced to imprisonment for five years or have served a total time in prison of three years are ineligible for service. Young men in poor health are also exempt from military conscription, while those in average health may serve in the militia. Male senior high school, vocational high school, and college students whose studies would be interrupted by military conscription can defer their induction until after graduation.

Military conscription is jointly administered by the MND and the Ministry of the Interior 內政部, with the former responsible for securing an adequate number of conscripts and training them, and the latter responsible for determining the sources of the conscripts and ensuring their rights and benefits. Conscripts generally undergo 22 months of training.

The Implementation Regulations for Substitutive Conscription 替代役實施條例 was promulgated on February 2, 2000, and went into effect on July 1, 2000. Under these regulations, those deemed unsuitable for regular military service could fulfill their required military duties through substitutive conscription, based on interests or specialty. Categories for substitutive conscription include domestic security (police and fire fighters), social services (social, environmental protection, medical, and educational fields), and other categories designated by the Executive Yuan. In 2001, 8,295 eligible young men performed substitutive conscription, and this number increased to 10,055 in 2002.

The ROC Army defends the country’s territory and ensures the integrity of its sovereignty. In peacetime, its mission is centered on defending critical areas of strategic significance, both on Taiwan proper and in offshore areas, as well as conducting basic training to maintain its fighting capabilities. In war, the Army conducts joint operations with the Navy and Air Force. With 190,000 personnel, the ROC Army is organized into combat, combat support, and service support troops.

The ROC Navy maintains control and surveillance of the waters around Taiwan and participates in joint operations with the Army and Air Force. The Navy Headquarters oversees both operational and land-based forces. The ROC Navy totals 500,000 personnel.

Taiwan’s geographic location makes air defense crucial for the nation’s overall defense. At present, the ROC Air Force has about 50,000 personnel divided into operational and logistical support systems under the command of the Air Force Headquarters.

The ROC has a total of 3.5 million registered reservists, all of whom must report to their local military reserve units under the Armed Forces Reserve Command after being discharged from active duty. Reservists are organized into different units based on their military occupational specialty (MOS).

Since a prolonged mobilization recall might adversely affect both the livelihood of reservists and the overall economic development of the country, annual reservist training is usually conducted through recalls. During these MOS refresher-training courses, each reservist is notified of his unit’s combat mission and relative location.

Military education includes preparatory education, fundamental education, in-service education, and advanced education. After completing fundamental education, a career officer must receive short-term specialized training at a number of military-branch schools, such as the infantry, armor, and artillery branch schools of the Army.

To ensure that its armed forces are properly equipped, the MND issued the Defense Science and Technology Development Plan to strengthen cooperation between the academic and industrial sectors. It also established the Executive Committee for the Development of Defense Science and Technology (ECDDST) in collaboration with several other cabinet-level institutions, such as the National Science Council 國科會 and the Ministry of Economic Affairs 經濟部. With its two subdivisions, the Academic Cooperation Group and the Industrial Cooperation Group, the ECDDST uses academic resources for defense technology research and employs the industrial sector to develop and manufacture weapons and equipment.

In addition, the ROC’s leading institution for R&D and the development of defensive technologies, the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) 中山科學研究院, employs approximately 4,000 scientists and more than 5,000 technicians. Headquartered at Longtan in Taoyuan County, the CSIST has facilities covering nearly 4,000 acres in various locations around Taiwan. These facilities are divided into various research divisions, including aeronautics, mechanics, electronics, radar, information, communications, chemistry, materials, electro-optics, and quality assurance. The CSIST has a great capacity in large-scale system design, manufacturing, and integration, which is why it is the nation’s primary scientific R&D center for defensive technologies.