MND aims to stem exodus of volunteer soldiers with pay raises

Taipei, Jan. 15 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Wednesday it has proposed pay raises for volunteer enlistees amid reports of a fourfold increase in military personnel opting out of their contracts early.

The MND's comments came following a Chinese-language United Daily News report Monday that 1,565 voluntary military personnel left the armed forces last year by invoking an opt-out clause introduced in 2009 and paying a financial penalty, compared with 401 in 2020.

With the departures, the number of serving volunteer military personnel in Taiwan stood at 152,885 in June 2024, the lowest figure since 2018, according to the MND.

Asked to comment on this issue, Major General Kao Chih-hsiung (高志雄) from the MND's Department of Resource Planning said at a press briefing that the ministry had proposed a salary raise for voluntary military personnel in the form of differential payments.

Similarly, differential payments have also been proposed for members of combat troops and non-combat personnel whose work entails technical skills, Kao said.

The proposed differential payments are pending review by the Cabinet and the amounts will be announced after the proposals are approved, Kao added.

Meanwhile, the recruitment rate of volunteer military personnel has fallen to 78.4 percent of the MND's target from 89 percent in 2020, according to MND statistics.

Combat troops are usually hit hardest by insufficient recruitment rates across all military units and are likely to post an even lower rate of under 70 percent, posing a threat to Taiwan's standing combat troops, according to Chieh Chung (揭仲), a research fellow at the Association of Strategic Foresight.

Asked whether the MND would work toward automating and modernizing the armed forces with technology to make up for the perceived shortfall in recruitment, MND spokesperson Major General Sun Li-fang (孫立方) said it is not only a goal that the MND is working toward but an international trend.

The MND is devising plans for automated deployments, including those relating to the military's striking capabilities, and necessary adjustments to the outfitting of troops in light of new military equipment the country has purchased, Sun added.