Ministry of National Defense Press Release

      Time: June 10^th, 2019 at 21:00 p.m.

Regarding the media coverage of “Relaxation of 8 Conditions; Enlisting Achieved? This Is How”, Ministry of National Defense has stated that the relevant content in the coverage has been clarified and explained by the ministry, though the media still conducted a false coverage, hence the ministry hereby provides another clarification and explanation as shown below:

1. In recent years, the Armed Forces have been promoting the enlisting system according to the policy guidance of “Adequate Quantity, Refined Essence, Strong Combat Capability” and relevant supporting measures, and the enlisting effectiveness has been increasing year by year, where the current personnel compilation ratio reaching 83%, and the target of 90% is expected to be achieved at the end of next year.

2. Regarding the coverage of “Relaxation of 8 Enlisting Conditions”, it primarily takes reference from the existing laws and regulations to avoid duplication and restrictions, such as cancelling Chinese and English examination for university graduates; in addition, entry conditions have been amended in order to look after partial vulnerable groups, and the restriction of tattoos has been relaxed by taking reference from the regulations adopted by the United States Armed Forces, as the above measures do not influence the quality of enlisted personnel.

    Ministry of National Defense pointed out that the statistics show that there are nearly 50% of soldiers who are graduated from armed forces universities (colleges), and among them there are a total of 494 soldiers with PhD degree, more than 7000 soldiers with master’s degree, nearly 70K soldiers with bachelor degree (college), where all officers have bachelor degree (college) or above educational background, and all soldiers have college and senior high school (vocational high school) or above education background. The quality of personnel has become more balanced compared to that of before the promotion of the enlisting system, and is becoming more equal to advanced countries including the United States of America and Japan.

3. Regarding the Army’s planning of “Reliable Combat Capability”, Ministry of National Defense stated that in order to respond to regional situation and threats as well as the elevation in defensive capability, the ground troops will be developed in the form of “Joint Service” and “Independent Combat”, and the total number of Armed Forces soldiers will remain unchanged after adjustment, which is in no correlation to staff reduction.

4. Ministry of National Defense stated that in order to respond to the threats from the enemy, all combat training readiness will be based on “Pragmatic Approach”, and the target of “Actual Combat”. Take the “Han Kuang Exercise” this year as an example, from the “Combat Capability Protection – Changhua Combat Readiness Runway Take-off and Landing”, “Coastal Victory” at the eastern waters, “Joint Beach Strand Enemy Annihilation” at southern Taiwan, “Anti-landing”, “Anti-airborne (air land)”, to “Actual Troop Confrontation”, the Armed Forces have demonstrated the exquisite training result and substantial defensive combat capability since the promotion of the enlisting system. The Armed Forces are equipped with adequate combat capability to protect the country, and hereby request citizens to continue supporting the Armed Forces.