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Abstract Nowadays in Taiwan, the connotation of the term “armed forces,” is by no means complimentary, if not always derogatory. The reason can be of a legal nature, since it is stipulated in Article 138 of the R.O.C. Constitution that armed forces shall be loyal to the country and protect its people in such ways that transcend their personal, geographic and political connections. Trade Union Law in Taiwan also denies the rights to form trade union by military personnel of active duty and employees of the firearms industry belonging to or supervised by the Ministry of National Defense. Consequently, armed forces in Taiwan have become innately disadvantaged since they are deprived of the right to defend themselves, in words or actions, against critics and attacks. Regardless how relevant such articles in constitution and related laws, drafted long time ago in a different social context, may be to mainstream values of the society today, the mere fact that military duty is essentially a form of legal contact between people and the state under public law begets the question: Why military personnel alone are deprived of freedom of expression as their basic legal rights to speak and stand for their right to work? The main business of armed forces is warfare; the priority of warfare is victory; and the essence of victory is strength, as is described in the Art of War. Across the Taiwan Strait, at the 19th National Congress of Chinese Communist Party, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for “a powerful upgrade of war preparedness,” and “a total mobilization of armed forces for military training,” so as to establish armed forces that can be mobilized to fight and win on demand, which is in a sharp contrast to the previous aim of developing the military capacity to fight and win. In Taiwan, on the other hand, the strategic doctrine for armed forces as proclaimed by the national leader, from Ma Yingjiou’s “small but strong, compact, and agile” to Tsai Yinwen’s “I am the supreme commander of armed forces, and from now on the honor and shame of the armed forces shall also be mine to bear,” has been so perplexing regarding why and for whom the armed forces are fighting. The nationalization of the armed forces, an objective that all countries strive for, can be achieved simply by “adherence to constitution and administration by law.” In reality, the leadership of the Ministry of National Defense tends to give in to pressure from the society, aiming for nothing but pleasing politicians by following their opinions. This has caused subsequent times of hardship within the armed forces and led to a worrisome state, in which the pride of the soldiers is strangled and the supreme command of the armed forces abandoned. In light of the adverse working conditions and hostile social settings, one wonders how many young people with genuine concerns for the country and its people would opt for military service over a civil career. Influenced by the campaigns for the enlist system for military service, the quality of new military recruits has been on a continuous decline. It is both perplexing and paradoxical that while the traditional notion, “No worthy men will join the army,” still prevails in Taiwan, social expectations on the combat capabilities of the soldiers remain high. If the military recruitment policy aims to attract talents and eliminate the undesirable, no constraints should be imposed on freedom of employment for military personnel. This study begins with a preliminary investigation into the current system of eliminating and decommissioning military personnel unfit for active duty and then analyzes a practical issue: Enlisted military personnel would rather opt out than continue their service. The next step is to propose a concrete, feasible solution for the system of eliminating and decommissioning enlisted military personnel unfit for active duty in accordance with relevant laws and regulations like Act of Military Service for Officers and Noncommissioned Officers of the Armed Forces, Provisional Act of Promoting Enlist Military Service, Regulations of Implementing Act of Employment for Military Service for Officers and Noncommissioned Officers of the Armed Forces, Rules of Compensation by Enlist Soldiers Unfit for Active Duty, so as to protect the rights and interests of enlisted military personnel while improving personnel performance and enhancing administration effectiveness, thereby effectively advancing the development of the enlist system for military service. This study focuses on the rationale for national military service and its planning, attitudes and approaches of concerned institutions and agencies to such cases, and possible directions for legislative amendments in four aspects: 1. Understanding the merits of a system of eliminating and decommissioning military personnel unfit for active duty under the current enlist system, 2. Understanding the legal status of a contract signed between the agency of enlisted military service and the person intending to provide professional military service under the current national defense system, 3. Collecting theories and discourses of remedy systems, the organizational structure and practices of responsible agencies, and related legislative amendments in recent years in case of conflicts with basic rights of the people in the process of implementing the enlist system by a responsible agency, and 4. Conducting literature review, analyzing data related to the enlist system in recent years, and organizing in-depth interviews with related personnel to derive and analyze correlations between key variables, so as to explore feasible legislative amendments under the existing enlist system and to provide recommendations on the future development of the Ministry of National Defense and its affiliated agencies.
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