Taiwan extended its conscription period this year due to concerns about China’s rising threat. On Friday, President Lai Ching-te paid a visit to a batch of recruits completing the new one-year conscription period. He inspected the results of conscript training at the Chenggong Ling military base in Taichung, where he himself was trained 40 years ago.
Conscripts drill basic combat skills on the training ground.
Over the last seven weeks, the conscripts not only learned basic combat skills, but also how to administer first aid on themselves and others on the battlefield. President Lai Ching-te visited the Chenggong Ling military camp to inspect the results of their training.
Chenggong Ling was where Lai himself had trained after being admitted to university. During his visit on Friday, he was surprised by a blast from the past.
Lai smiled as he examined his training evaluation report from 1980. He left camp with a high score of 89.63.
This old photo shows a youthful Lai standing on sentry duty. After completing his training, he went to Kinmen to serve as a military medical officer. Speaking at Chenggong Ling, Lai recalled his time in the military.
Lai Ching-te
President
When I served, we slept in wide beds and everyone was crowded together. There was no air conditioning when the weather was hot, so it was quite hard. Times have progressed and I’m very happy. Whether it’s the accommodation that all of you live in or training equipment, in the future we will keep making progress. We want to provide good living conditions and even better training.
Lai stressed that Taiwan is committed to peace. But in the face of authoritarian threats from China, Taiwan must be prepared, he said, adding that the more sweat a soldier sheds in training, the more secure the nation will be.
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27 июн 2024
