Fewer troops in Penghu amid lower birth rate and high employment｜Taiwan News
The 2025 budgeting plan for the Ministry of National Defense was made available online Monday morning, sparking attention for cuts to the number of troops to be stationed in the outlying islands. According to the official document, there will be 15% less soldiers to Penghu in 2025, a decrease of more than 1,000 people. The ministry clarified earlier that the cuts could be attributed to low birth rates and higher employment rates, and reiterated that all budgetary decisions were made after careful assessments.
President Lai-Ching-te stopped at Penghu to recognize troops stationed on the archipelago. The visit sparked attention to the defense ministry’s budgeting plan for 2025, which revealed cuts to the number of military personnel in outlying islands.
Kao Chih-hsiung
Ministry of National Defense
The number of personnel to the Penghu Region has diminished by 15%. This is mainly due to lower birth rates of recent years and more hiring by businesses, among other factors. Therefore after considering the number of officers currently in service and the number entering retirement, the ministry slashed the number of volunteer soldiers for the year 2025.
This year, 7,185 military personnel are stationed in Penghu. The number will fall by 15% to 6,093 persons next year. Both conscripts and volunteer soldiers will have a smaller presence. Meanwhile, the number of troops to Kinmen and Matsu, currently at around 8,200 persons, will see a slight increase next year. Although the number of conscripts to Kinmen and Matsu will decrease by nearly 500, there will be 550 more volunteer soldiers.
Chen Chien-yi
ROC Army
As for stationed troops, having defensive personnel in outlying islands has always been our utmost priority. There’s no such thing as too few soldiers in current enrollment.
Wang Ting-yu
Lawmaker (DPP)
Balancing the duties of conscripts and volunteer soldiers has nothing to do with whether they’re stationed in outlying islands or not. They play an important role for Taiwan, for the country, regardless. So the ministry will make the most suitable arrangements.
Although the number of volunteer soldiers had decreased due to low birth rates, the defense ministry reiterated the importance of outlying islands, stating that personnel arrangements were done after holistic assessments of the military’s defense capabilities.
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