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TAIPEI : Taiwan's president has urged the island's armed forces to become a small, elite unit, saying a voluntary military rather than conscription was key to the island's defence, local media said Thursday.
Ma Ying-jeou's call, made Wednesday at a seminar at the National Defence University, confirms a trend for Taiwan to rely less on conscription and increasingly on volunteers.
"Our military must transform itself into a force that is small but elite, small but skillful, small but strong," Ma told an audience of about 300 officers, according to the China Times, a Taipei-based newspaper.
Taiwan's relations with China have improved significantly since Ma assumed office in May last year, with cooperation accelerating especially in the economic field.
Even so, Taiwan remains wary of China's objectives, often citing more than 1,000 missiles lined up on its coastline facing the island.
Military service in Taiwan was cut from 14 months to one year in 2008 and is expected to decline further in coming years.
The number of Taiwanese soldiers currently on active duty is about 290,000, but as conscripts will gradually play a diminishing role, that number is likely to fall.
The trend of a smaller, more efficient force is mirrored in China, where the People's Liberation Army now has 2.3 million active members, down from more than six million at its height.
China and Taiwan have been governed separately since the end of a civil war in 1949, but Beijing still considers the island part of its territory, and has threatened to use force if necessary to get it back.
- AFP /ls
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