Lawmakers push bill for more specialized military

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on April 20, 2006. It reports that a group of legislators recently began to work on an amendment to the National Defense Law, which would help Taiwan build a more specialized and professional military. According to these legislators, the current legislation on military personnel promotion has been in place for decades and is incapable of effectively transforming the military to a more professional level.

Currently, Taiwan's military personnel need to complete certain specified courses at the National Defense University's War College in order to become eligible for most of the nation's significant military positions. Now, the amendment intends to change the minimum requirement to at least a master's degree in military science at the War College.

The current legislation also stipulates that officials at the level of director or deputy director must have at least one year of experience in the field to which they are appointed. Now, the amendment proposes to require senior officials to have at least five years of experience in a relevant field before they can be appointed to high-level positions.

According to the legislators who are working the amendment, although the current low requirements for military promotions enable the Ministry of National Defense to manage its human resources relatively easily, they are ineffective in building up an advanced military. The ministry's failures in effectively carrying out a number of military projects have been the result of inexperienced officers being out in charge of the projects.