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coolgod said:

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CNN claims he is an immigrant from China, pretty odd. Vietnamese Chinese would be common, but from China? Maybe just to smear China?

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Bellum_Romanum said:

‘If war breaks out … I will just become cannon fodder:’ In Taiwan, ex-conscripts feel unprepared for potential China conflict



World



Soldiers take part in the Han Kuang military exercise, which simulates an invasion by China's People's Liberation Army, on July 28, 2022, in Pingtung, Taiwan.
Annabelle Chih/Getty Images

‘If war breaks out … I will just become cannon fodder:’ In Taiwan, ex-conscripts feel unprepared for potential China conflict
By Eric Cheung, CNN
Updated 8:36 PM EST, Fri January 20, 2023
Taipei, TaiwanCNN —
Rising concerns over increasingly aggressive military maneuvers by China have prompted Taiwan to extend the mandatory military service period most of its young men must serve. But former conscripts interviewed by CNN say Taipei will need to do far more than that if it is to make the training effective.

Outdated, boring and impractical. That was the verdict of six young men who spoke to CNN about their recent experiences of mandatory service in Taiwan’s military.

They describe a process that was designed decades ago with a heavy emphasis on bayonet training, but lacking instruction in urban warfare strategies or modern weapons like drones. Some say there were too few rifles to go around, or that the weapons they trained with were too old to be of use. Others recount “specializing” in cannon, grenade and mortar units, but never receiving any ammunition to train with.

Their criticisms come at a crucial time for Taiwan’s military. President Tsai Ing-wen announced recently that the period of mandatory service for men born in or after 2005 will be extended from four months to a year, saying that the present system “no longer suits the needs” of the island’s defense. The military says the rethink follows comparisons to the militaries of other democratic jurisdictions that have longer conscription periods – such as South Korea (18-21 months), Singapore (24 months) and Israel (24-30 months).


Strengthening the island’s military has become a key concern for Tsai, who has spoken of the need to highlight Taiwan’s determination to defend itself amid increasingly aggressive noises from Beijing. The ruling Chinese Communist Party claims the self-governing democracy of 23.5 million people as part of its territory, despite never having controlled it, and has sent record numbers of air and sea patrols to harass it since former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited in August. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has repeatedly refused to rule out the use of force to “reunify” the island with mainland China.

“No one wants war,” Tsai said in announcing the lengthening of mandatory service periods in December. “This is true of Taiwan’s government and people, and the global community, but peace does not come from the sky, and Taiwan is at the front lines of the expansion of authoritarianism.”


A military exercise in Taiwan simulates an invasion by China on Jan. 6, 2022.
I-Hwa Cheng/Bloomberg/Getty Images
‘I only shot 40 rounds’
But former conscripts are skeptical, telling CNN the problems with mandatory military service go beyond the short time frame and will only be fixed by a more thorough revamp.

Tsai herself has acknowledged that many citizens feel serving in the military is “just a waste of time.”

“In our company, we had more than 100 assault rifles, but only slightly more than a dozen could be used for shooting practices,” said Frank Liu, a 26-year-old auditor from the central Changhua county who served in 2021. He said about 140 conscripts received training in his company.

“A lot of those assault rifles were made many decades ago, and many were too worn out to be used in training. The weapons had to be rotated among ourselves.”

Paul Lee, a factory manager from Taipei who served in 2018, had a similar experience.

“We didn’t fire many rounds during the military training,” Lee said. “I was practicing with the T65 assault rifle, and I only shot about 40 rounds during the entire training period.

“I’m concerned that many people who underwent the training with me won’t even be able to operate a rifle with confidence.”

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ZeEa5KPul said:

That's all you needed to say.

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taxiya said:

Tran is Vietnamese Romanization of Chinese name 陈 and is only used in Vietnam.

However, there is a slight chance that he is "from China". Just before Sino-Vietnamese war, Vietnam expelled hundreds of thousands ethnic Chinese, some of them crossed border into China and were settled in China. But for a long time, they were regarded as Vietnamese citizens, thus some of them may find way to migrate to western countries instead of waiting in China for returning to Vietnam. That could explain why this person has a Vietnamese spelling of his name but also "from China", as China would have issued refugee certificate for him.

But I highly doubt he is ethnic Chinese even if he was originally from Vietnam because of his given name (Huu Can). I find this Vietnamese with the same given name. The given name doesn't fit the way Chinese would have chosen the characters.

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9dashline said:

I guess Yellen didnt get the help she was looking for...

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kokole said:

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U.S. Tanks Should Go to Taiwan Over Ukraine

Let European allies step up in their own neighborhood.

In urging Washington to send Ukraine M1 Abrams tanks (“Tanks for Ukraine Are a No-Brainer,” Politics & Ideas, Jan. 18), William Galston writes that “it is hard to see a more important and urgent use for them.” He forgets Taiwan. It is under the constant threat of a Chinese invasion and needs advanced weapons to deter Beijing. That is why the Trump administration agreed to sell Taiwan 108 Abrams tanks, but most won’t arrive until 2024 and 2025. Ukraine is a case study in the failure of deterrence, and Taiwan is much more important to our security and prosperity. Any tanks we can spare should go to Taipei.

Though some Republicans leery of Ukraine aid are isolationist, far from all are. Much of the GOP worries that the U.S. isn’t doing enough to take on China. This means shifting the bulk of our attention and resources to the Indo-Pacific, where the geopolitical center of gravity and most U.S. interests are. In turn, our European allies should do much more in their own neighborhood to support Ukraine and confront Russia. This isn’t so much “shortsighted” as pragmatic.

Mr. Galston is right that Ukraine needs tanks to repel Russia. He’s wrong that America should be the one to provide them.

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