The number of suicides by Taiwanese military personnel in the first half of the 2024 and the whole year of the 2023 reached a six-year high, according to statistics from the Ministry of National Defense, which has drawn attention in the island.
The National Defense Ministry recently released a statistical table on the number of casualties among 2023 officers and soldiers in the Taiwan Army, six more than in 2022. In the first six months of this year, 12 military personnel have committed suicide, up from 9 in the same period last year. “The United Daily” said that the Taiwan Army has repeatedly committed suicide, public opinion is concerned whether it reflects the lack of psychological counseling mechanisms or lack of manpower and other issues. The Ministry of National Defense reported to Taiwan’s legislature that the Taiwanese army currently has 395 psychological counsellors, a ratio of about 1.5 per cent to 160,000 soldiers. 405 or an average of one person to mentor the strength of approximately one battalion.
According to Taiwanese media reports, the island’s jury had previously held a press conference and expressed hope that Wellington Koo, the “Defence Minister”, would reopen the “Military grievances appeal commission” under Ma Ying-jeou, to address the military grievances that the Taiwan authorities have long ignored. But there has been no further progress since the press conference ended. The island’s people are also unhappy with the frequent suicides by the Taiwanese military, with some netizens commenting on the island’s Internet forum PTT, saying, “Thinking of dying for the garbage DPP on the battlefield is too much to bear.”.
Not only are suicides on the rise, but the recruitment of volunteer soldiers is also not looking good. According to a report by the budget center of Taiwan’s “Legislature”, the number of volunteers in the Taiwan Army continued to decline after reaching a recent high of 164884 by the end of 2021, by the end of June, the number had fallen to 152885, the lowest since late 2018. By the end of June, the budget center said, it included the army’s outer-island infantry, infantry, artillery, cavalry, combat vehicles and anti-armour units, the marine infantry battalion, Chariot Battalion, artillery battalion, each company and Garrison Squadron, transport vehicle unit, Artillery Vehicle Unit, Defense Company and missile company, each naval ship unit, Tactical Reconnaissance Unit and marine front unit, the air defense missile force and the Gendarmerie 202 command and other combat units of the first type to receive additional combat, the present ratio is less than 80% . Chie Chung, a military scholar on the island, believes that, according to the 90 percent current-to-current ratio stipulated by Taiwan’s“Ministry of National Defense,” the actual number of personnel missing from the volunteer service of the Taiwan Army’s main combat forces has reached 16,000, it is conceivable that the number of volunteers in the main fighting forces is seriously insufficient.