Defense News

News reference materials of the Ministry of National Defense 
Time: May 14, 2024 at 10:00

I  Topic of the press conference: Implementation of the "Integrity Education" plan of the Armed Forces in 2024 

II Moderator: Major General Sun Li-fang, spokesperson of the MND.

III Participants:
1.Mr. Wang Chen-guo, Director of the Ethics Office.
2.Major General Fu Cheng-rong, Director of the Personnel Training Division, Office of Deputy CGSs 
3.Major General Ye Rui-lin, Director of the Financial Resources Division, Department of Resources
4.Major General Dong Ji-xing, Director of the Joint Operation and Planning Division, Office of DCGS/Planning 
5.Major General Dai Jian-you, Director of the Joint Operation Training Division, Office of DCGS/Training
6.Major General Lin Chi-ying, Director of the Military Personnel Division, Army Command Headquarters
7.Colonel Wang Yi-hong, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department.
8.Colonel Wang Chong-siang, Deputy Director of the Discipline and Inspection Division, Office of the Chief Inspector General 
9.Colonel Wang Bing-feng, Deputy Director of the Law and Investigation Division, Department of Legal Affairs
10.Colonel Huang Ming-jie, an intelligence officer of the Intelligence Research Center, Office of DCGS/Intelligence

IV Press conference news materials:
1. Introduction:
To align with global trends, "Anti-corruption" has become a universal value and is an important indicator for the international community and people around the world to measure the effectiveness of administration governance. It is also a key factor that affects the quality of the Armed Forces in war preparations. To implement the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the integrity education of the forces has continuously advanced to equip service personnel with complete training and education, while effective strategies are adopted to cultivate the values ​​and beliefs of integrity and anti-corruption in the military to shape an integrity and transparency culture.

2. Laws and regulations:
◎United Nations Convention against Corruption
◎Act to Implement United Nations Convention against Corruption
◎National Integrity Building Action Plan
◎Specific enforcement points of the National Integrity Building Action Plan by the Ministry of National Defense
◎Integrity Education Curriculum Outline of the Armed Forces
◎Key points of enforcement for integrity education by the Armed Forces 
◎The Annual Integrity Work Plan for 2024 by the MND 

3. Educational content:
Topic 1: Shaping the integrity value of service personnel in a democratic society
Explain the relationship between the state, civil society, and the military to establish "accountability" of the military to the people and government, and promote "transparency" in national defense policies and actions.

Topic 2: Control the integrity mechanism and related policies
Elaborate on the international anti-corruption framework, the National Integrity Building Action Plan, the operation of the anti-corruption mechanism in the MND, and global anti-corruption trends in national defense.

Topic 3: Familiarity with laws and requirements related to an uncorrupt government
Introduce administrative and criminal laws and regulations related to integrity, including the Law on Property Declaration of Public Officials, the Law on Avoiding Conflicts of Interest among Public Officials, the Lobbying Law and Political Contribution Law, the Malfeasance and Dereliction Offense in Criminal Law, the Regulations on the Punishment of Corruption, the Regulations for the Reward, Protection, and Reporting of Corruption and Malfeasance, and the Integrity and Ethics Guide for Military Personnel.

Topic 4: Focus on integrity risks and crisis management
Discuss cases of violations to deepen participants’ understanding of high-risk situations, and guide them to improve internal management processes, control mechanisms, crisis communication, and handling skills to establish a more transparent and efficient integrity governance environment.

Topic 5: Implementation of drills
To combine the contents of the four aforementioned topics, we conduct student-oriented teaching activities, and develop drills that align with the characteristics, environment, and missions of the Armed Forces so participants can appreciate the values of a clean administration and integrity, honesty, and zero tolerance for corruption through "learning from doing."

4. Implementation of the program:
(1) Compilation of course-specific teaching materials:
To enrich the integrity education textbooks for various military educational institutes and training teams, the MND has invited experts and scholars from Transparency International Chinese Taipei (TICT) to compile special textbooks based on actual learning needs from four teams – fundamental, branch, refresher, and advanced – to integrate five major aspects on integrity education. The content of classes at levels is therefore consistent, and a complete development system based on the teaching materials used in integrity education is provided to enhance overall educational effectiveness.

(2) Plan and sponsor training for professional teachers:
To strengthen the teaching capacity of integrity education, the MND has planned to invite integrity education teachers (instructors) from 28 military educational institutes and training teams to sponsor instructor training and empowerment studies, and conduct observation and trial teaching based on compiled and organized materials, research, and exchange, design discussions and sharing of teaching work to create a benchmark for learning and strengthen the professional skills of teachers and improve teaching quality.

(3) Improve lesson-preparation resources for teaching:
To establish professional, rich, creative, and diverse lesson-preparation resources for integrity education, the MND has commissioned the "MND Integrity Education Resource Network." Once completed, it can provide teachers (instructors) with a convenient channel to enrich their teaching content, and improve auxiliary platforms for teaching.

(4) Deepen professional ethics education:
To promote campus integrity in military academies, the MND has planned to hold on-campus professional ethics lectures at grass-root colleges of the National Defense University, tri-service academies, and the National Defense Medical Center to carry out research on integrity concepts and possible forms of corruption derived from various academic and professional fields (such as engineering, medicine, finance, technology, etc.) and to enhance awareness among future military cadres of corruption risks and prevention work.

(5) Sponsor itinerant symposiums on integrity:
To implement integrity risk management, the MND plans to adopt an organizational way of learning, and will invite external professional resources to participate with MND divisions of the General Staff Headquarters in charge of integrity in  symposiums on integrity for high-risk units as a method of generating in-depth discussions of the causes of corruption-related prosecution cases in recent years, and study strategies to improve policies, optimize regulatory measures, and prevent the recurrence of similar cases.

(6) Produce animated integrity videos:
To promote integrity education for grassroots officers and soldiers, the MND has designed the first and second version of "Robot Dog Hunting Order." Based on the results of surveys of service personnel, the MND is commissioning the production of a 3D animated video based on "Conflicts of Interest", and will broadcast it on Juguang Campus TV. The program will invite prosecutors from the Ministry of Justice and other experts and scholars to explain the course themes and key points of the video, and analyze relevant cases and possible forms and modes of violations to strengthen the learning outcomes of officers and soldiers.

(7) Produce and broadcast an anti-corruption special:
To further promote integrity, the MND has worked to produce and broadcast an annual Juguang Campus TV teaching series based on the theme of "Integrity in National Defense, Integrity in the Armed Forces." Through reports and dialogs, it explains international anti-corruption trends, the progress of government anti-corruption work, and the issues of the correlation between anti-corruption and national defense capabilities so military personnel can understand policy goals, implementation strategies, and the results of anti-corruption enforcement in the Armed Forces.

(8) Implement the tutoring and appraisal mechanism:
To appreciate the implementation of integrity education in various military educational institutions and training teams, the MND has scheduled and sponsored self-evaluations among units, on-site visits, course evaluations, and performance commendations. To verify and corroborate the implementation of Juguang Campus TV teaching and integrity education specials among grassroots units, the MND has scheduled to pay a visit to prioritized units (such as medical, logistics, and units with past cases of corruption) to conduct auxiliary work and after-class questionnaires to understand where the problem areas lie, and provide a reference for subsequent course improvement.