In December, Taiwan announced it was increasing mandatory military service due to the growing threat it faces from China
Taiwan’s military on Tuesday unveiled plans to allow women to volunteer for reserve force training for the first time, as China continues to step up military pressure.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said it will allow 220 discharged female soldiers to enroll in training from the second quarter of this year.
The competent authorities report that the move will be made on a trial basis for this year.
Taiwan’s defense ministry previously said it was training only male reservists because it did not have sufficient capacity to accommodate both sexes.
Taiwanese lawmakers had said barring women from reservist training amounted to gender discrimination.
In December, Taiwan announced it would extend the period of conscription for all eligible men from four months to one year, starting in 2024, and would apply to men born after 2005.
Taiwan has a military force of about 170,000, made up mostly of volunteers, and also trains about 120,000 reservists annually, according to the CIA World Factbook.
Men between the ages of 18 and 36 must either voluntarily serve in the army or complete a period of compulsory service in the reserves.
Once discharged, men are subject to training recalls four times over eight years.
As of 2021, women make up 15 percent of Taiwan’s military, but they serve mostly in non-combat roles, the CIA Factbook says.
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