When we speak of “ARC status”, in Taiwan that means a person with an Alien Resident Certificate. This amounts to saying “a foreigner with residency permission.”
I would also include APRC holders (i.e. those with permanent residency status) in this group.
Am I correct in thinking that this is what taiwanstatus is referring to?
In Singapore, permanent residents are required to do military service. However in Taiwan neither ARC nor APRC holders are required to do so, since they do not have ROC nationality.
One of the culprits is that in Taiwanese/Chinese culture, vulnerability is seen as an essentially feminine trait. It’s annoying, but you see it all over the place, in the intentionally whiny, high-pitched voices of the pop-stars-of-the-day tottering on absurdly high, pointed shoes and playboyesque outfits. I agree that women shouldn’t be encouraged to exaggerate or pretend vulnerability, especially when it comes to shooting a gun. I’ve met women when I was studying martial arts who could easily kick my ass.
I saw only a handful of female officers (always officers, of course) when I was in the army. They were inevitably administrational staff or the ones that came to brainwash us on “Juguang” Day. Then again, I wasn’t in any type of special forces, although my sharpshooting skills were pretty good.
Did anyone see one of the last iterations of the “Baogao Banzhang” movies? It was subtitled “Nubing baodao” or something like that, and concerned women at the Chengkungling base in Taichung back when they were still doing the college student training thing.
Having been a combat veteran in the Gulf War, I don’t think most females can cut it. Physical strength and some personality traits for many when placed under stress are very serious issues.
Then there is the call of nature for traumatic stress situations. Babyboom is the 9-11 aftermath.
Otherwise, I am not against women in the military.
Combat positions, no way. Combat support, see the above for the physical realities of battle.
As for “Montevideo Convention”, Taiwan was further juridically impaired by Article 4 of ‘equal standing’ under law of nations.
No SFPT support for “Taiwan independence” and the Carter derecognition may have caused some peace treaty issues. See “juridical person” in Article 4 of SFPT. Think in terms of juridical person of Montevideo Convention for no sovereign claims of Taiwan.
Here is a question…
Isn’t it smarter not to fight, than to pull more people into senseless wars (which wars have never really changed anything long-term?)? If China invaded, they would win…no doubt about that… but why kill more people? Let them win… I don’t care what country it was… if there was a war, I would not fight… it doesn’t make sense… A smart person once said “people fight over pieces of land not big enough to bury the dead in”… think about it… call me a coward if you want, but if I lived in a country with a war, I would just move… my opinion…
Taiwanstatus, give me a GOOD reason why women shouldn’t fight. And it’ll have to be better than “they’re too (mentally or physically) weak” – that non-gender equality bllsht just doesn’t cut it.
Hear, Hear! Ever seen Israeli women in uniform (Or out of them, for that matter ) - they’re in awesome shape! And I love the jaunty way they sling their Uzis over their shoulder on the bus.
Oh, and Stockguru? Yeah, you’re a coward and a pisspoor student of history. Move? Like the Jews moved out of the Warsaw ghetto? Move like the Tutsis moved when the Hutus were chopping them up with machetes? (Or was it the other way around?) Or maybe move like when the Khmer Rouge were killing anyone who wore glasses. God, what a moron you are. You would have lived very happily in Hitler’s Germany. Provided that you weren’t gay, politically active, non-Aryan, or jewish, that is. Cuz then you would have just moved.
I’ve seen Israeli women in uniform and I’ve gotta agree with the Maoman and the Bri on this one.
Admittedly, very, very few women soldiers are able to complete the training for the very top of the range combat roles (at least in Britain), or so I read in a recent article on this very subject.
BUT, the article was about women trying to get into the Green Berets or one of those other super gung-ho, run-across-a-mountain-range-carrying-a-gun-and-80lb-of-kit-while-poking-yourself-in-the-eye-with-a-sharp-stick-type outfits.
And one of them DID pass, but declined to join because her team mates would have been such arrogant, chauvinist assholes, or at least thats what the article said.
Women unsuited for regular gruntwork? Gimme a break.
When I was in grad school, I had a classmate from Taiwan who said she had been a female officer. She showed us a picture to prove it. I believed her because her personality was quite different than that of the other women I knew from Taiwan. The scuttlebutt was that she told someone she had left her husband (he was military too) to come to the USA and find a “real” man, whatever that meant?! Well, in no time she went on the attack and found one to steal away from his wife. They ended up getting married. In my opinion from a brief meeting, he didn’t embody “real”; “redneck” would be more like it, but that’s just me. Boy, if there aren’t any manly men in their military, what is Taiwan to do??!!
I also wonder why you would need to train everyone on weapons!? I find it sick to teach children how to use/handle a gun nor do I see a need for women to do so as to increase the ‘fire power’ of a country.
It seems you are actually looking forward to a war, something which I admit may happen but I hope it won’t. And most wars today are not fought using hand-guns, so I don’t see the real benefit of that anyhow.
Taiwan being a small island with a rather small population is in a bad position anyhow.
Even some western countries don’t allow women in the army, or at least not for combat training though this is slowly changing. If they want to join then that’s fine, but there should be no national service for females and no weapon’s training for school children (male or female).
Here in the US, I own several rifles and handguns. When I go shooting with my friends, my wife almost always comes along. I taught her how to handle weapons/shoot and she is a very good marksman capable of hitting bowling pins out to ranges of 350 meters with my Bushmaster CAR-15 (M-16 carbine with collapsable stock) from both the prone and squatting positions. She can also clear jams and perform a tactical reload.
She is equally skilled with my handguns and can empty the 17 round magazine of my Glock-34 into a 12 inch target at 25 meters in under 30 seconds, with at least half of the rounds hitting–a challenge for anybody. There is NO doubt in my mind that women when properly trained can handle and fire guns as well as men.
During WWII, many of the top Russian snipers were women. During the Vietnam war, many women VC fought alongside the men. In the war between Ethiopia and Etereria, women are the soldiers most feared by the Ethiopians due to the lack of mercy they show captured prisioners.
Although I don’t think women are very well-suited for frontline combat, I think that there are specific types of operations where women can perform as well as men and perhaps in some cases, better.
In a militia defense force, all women should be combat qualified and expect to perform infantry duties as part of their primary job description.
In offensive armed forces, the effective role of women is far too questionable for any such direct combat roles like the infantry. There are a small minority of women whom are even capable for such roles, and I am not so necessarily for or against them watching my back. Perhaps the exception than the norm.
Unless the PRC pops a nuke, any type of invasion would ultimately devolve into a MOUT/Guerella action of the type recently seen in Somalia.
Urban and jungle/mountain terrian is the worst type of terrain for an offensive force because not only does the attacker have to overcome the 3:1 ratio, they also have to fight the terrain itself–not to mention the element of surprise.
In such a situation women would be invaluable operating as spies, infiltrators, “Sniper bait” (Luring officers into the sights of waiting snipers) and even taking part as active combatants themselves.
The best thing the ROC military can do is invest in sending their SpecOps to MOUT/CQB training schools such as Thunder Ranch or Gunsite here in the US. Those are some of the same schools we send our SEAL/Delta operators and other SpecOps to for their training. They can then return to Taiwan and train regular units and whatever “Student/Cadet” corps there is.
But I don’t think that’s gonna happen anytime soon.
Ultimately, the will of the people to resist PLA invasion is questionable. The ROC reserves are not in any shape to be rapidly mobilized and the idea of “girls with guns” is not going to work in the long run. The PRC is less than 70 miles away.
When the call comes, those mobilization plans get thrown out the window! Officers just can’t plan anything right as Desert Storm taught us. It was chaos which thrives on American initiative that made it work in the end.
Once they land, PLA light infantry will be swarming up and down the west coast within 72+ hours. These mainland guys travel light and can literally go up to 30-50 miles daily on foot! PLA mechanized infantry units are not those heavy armored tank divisions of the US Army. The US Air Force would love the PLA!
The eastern mountains will become the fortress of resistance. Urban guerrilla warfare is not likely to break out widely or even be successful as the average ROC soldier is not even proficient with an M-16. They don’t get regular BRM (Basic Rifle Marksmanship), so where is the spare ammo?
The extra ammo funds were probably embezzled by the same Army officers who drew up the reserve mobilization plans.
The Taiwan government is tending to support the US government’s stance on Iraq. In other words, if Bush and Powell want to invade, Taiwan will not voice any objections.
So I am wondering if this will also be a chance for Taiwan to send some military forces to the Middle East to help with the Iraqi war effort?
In particular, I am wondering if Taiwan women soldiers will be sent to the front in any capacity?
Can anyone provide any insight on this? Or do you know what the feeling of the local Taiwanese populace would be to such a proposal?
(I have seen a number of Chinese kung-fu movies and the Chinese women are pretty lethal . . . . I asume that this must be the case for many of the local Taiwanese girls too.)
[quote]So I am wondering if this will also be a chance for Taiwan to send some military forces to the Middle East to help with the Iraqi war effort?
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No way. Sorry, I don’t have a link but the MND and Foreign Ministry has already stated that while it might be prepared to offer troops or other personnel after any hostilities to join in relief work, no combat or logistic personnel will be offered unless Taiwan gets some kind of command function in the combat theatre. I somehow don’t see that happening!
I heard a rumor that a lot more women are applying to, and getting into, the Taiwan military academies recently. Partly this is because the economy is down, and apparently the tuition is not only low at these academies, but the students also receive a monthly stipend!
But from a larger perspective, I wonder if this indicates that the Taiwan government is training these women into some sort of elite corps to do some kind of special warfare against the mainland??
) - they’re in awesome shape! And I love the jaunty way they sling their Uzis over their shoulder on the bus. 
