The island’s democratically elected President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan wants peace but must be able to defend itself
Taiwan will extends mandatory military service to one year from the current four months from 2024 because of the growing threat it faces from China, the island’s democratically elected President Tsai Ing-wen said today.
The decision comes as China increases military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan to assert its sovereignty, including near-daily missions by the Chinese air force near the island over the past three years.
Tsai said Taiwan wants peace but must be able to defend itself.
“As long as Taiwan is strong enough, it will be the home of democracy and freedom around the world and will not become a battlefield,” Tsai told a news conference, announcing the decision, which she called “extremely difficult.”
The current military system, which includes training reservists, is ineffective and insufficient to handle China’s growing military threat, particularly if the latter launches a swift attack on the island, Tsai added.
“Taiwan wants to tell the world that between democracy and dictatorship, we firmly believe in democracy. Between war and peace, we insist on peace. Let us show the courage and determination to protect our motherland and defend the democracy.”
The draftees will undergo more intensive training, including marksmanship drills, battle drills used by US forces and use more powerful weapons such as Stringer anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank missiles, Tsai said.
Taiwan has complained about delayed deliveries of weapons from the US this year, including the Stringer, but Tsai said the situation is improving after talks with the United States.
The de facto US embassy in Taiwan welcomed the decision to reform conscription.
“The United States’ commitment to Taiwan and the steps Taiwan is taking to strengthen its self-defense capabilities contribute to maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the region,” the American Institute in Taiwan said.
Tsai’s security team, which includes senior officials from the defense ministry and the National Security Council, are reviewing Taiwan’s military system starting in 2020, an official told Reuters.
Taipei, which rejects Beijing’s claims to sovereignty over Taiwan, reported on Monday the largest-ever entry of the Chinese air force into the air defense identification zone, with 43 Chinese planes crossing an unofficial neutral zone between the two sides.
China also held military training exercises near Taiwan in August following a visit to Taipei by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Taiwan’s government says that only the people of Taiwan can decide their future.
“China’s various unilateral behaviors have become a major concern for regional security,” said the official, who took part in the high-ranking security talks.
The draftees will be tasked with protecting critical infrastructure, which will allow regular forces to respond more quickly in the event of a possible Chinese invasion, the defense ministry said at the same press conference.
Chieh Chang, a researcher at the National Policy Foundation, a Taipei-based think tank, estimated that the extension of military service could add an additional 60,000-70,000 manpower each year to the 165,000-member professional force from 2027 onwards. .
Even after conscription is extended, however, the period of service will be shorter than the 18 months envisaged in South Korea, which faces a hostile and nuclear-armed North Korea.
Tsai is overseeing a broad modernization program, championing the concept of “asymmetric warfare” to make Taiwan’s forces more agile, flexible and offensively tough.
While the United States has been pushing Taiwan to modernize its military to become more agile and tough on the offensive, Tsai said there has been no pressure from Washington for those reforms.
China’s growing claims to the island it claims as its own, as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have sparked public debate in Taiwan about how to bolster defenses.
Tsai said the government had learned “a few things” from the war that it had incorporated into Taiwan’s defense reforms, noting that Ukraine’s ability to fend off much larger Russian forces gave the international community time to provide assistance.
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