The Depths Of Taiwan's Military Morale Crisis

(MENAFN- Asia Times) From the massive-scale retreat of 1949 to the crises over Quemoy, the ROC's armed forces have long symbolized perseverance amidst adversity. However, amid Xi Jinping's increasing pressure on Taiwan through China's recent Joint Sword Exercises, ADIZ incursions and cognitive warfare, military morale has become an existential matter.

Low morale is severely affecting Taiwan's defense as the country faces a dramatic shortage in troops, with some combat units dropping below 80% staffing due to early retirements and discharges.

This article examines the historical roots of the ROC's military morale crisis, explores how Taiwan's quest for identity impacts military morale, and provides suggestions on how to address this critical issue.

The origins of the morale crisis in the ROC military trace back to the early 20^th century. After the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, China was divided by local warlords fighting over territories and peoples, who distanced themselves from the ideals of freedom, equality, and natural rights.

This decentralization and infighting between warlord armies proved fatal, with rising provincialism, defection, and bribery shaping the early ROC, and preventing the creation of a unified national military.

As Professor Luyang Zhou highlights in his article“Historical origins of the party-army relations in the Soviet Union and China,” collective treason became rampant in the 1910s and 1920s, to the point that defection and bribery started to substitute real fighting. Dialects, topography and self-sufficiency further fueled the already-rising provincialism in China's Warlord Era.

In 1925, the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) was formed, comprising of the KMT Party Army and four military forces loyal to regional leaders. The heterogeneity of the NRA with its individual regional leaders exemplified the decentralization of command.

As outlined in the book“The Chinese High Command: A History of Communist Military Politics,” informal relationships and personal loyalties, rather than ideology, dominated the officer corps dynamics. This fragmentation of the NRA led to widespread defections, further eroding morale.

Additionally, poor military leadership exacerbated the morale crisis. German advisor General George Wetzell criticized Chiang Kai-shek's rapid promotion of unqualified military officers, resulting in inadequate leadership development. Officers frequently prioritized socializing, planning logistics, and dealing with budgetary issues over training, leaving troops underprepared for conflict scenarios.

By the mid-20^th century, military morale had deteriorated significantly. In 1945 , an entire section of the Kuomintang army defected to the CCP, and two complete divisions deserted in 1946.

According to a Far Eastern Survey article published in 1947, high desertion and troop loss rates within the KMT army as well as the loss of strategic advantages as American forces suspended supplies, demonstrated clear evidence of declining morale.

Media reports from 1947 predicted that the CCP would most likely win the civil war due to the KMT's decaying morale and lack of ideological strength. By 1949, the demoralized KMT military lost the Chinese Civil War and retreated to Taiwan.

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