Song Hong
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Taiwan on Tuesday (Dec 27) announced an extension in mandatory military service from four months to one year, citing the threat from an increasingly hostile China.
Beijing considers self-ruled, democratic Taiwan a part of its territory, to be taken one day, by force if necessary, and the island lives under the constant fear of a Chinese invasion.
Under President Xi Jinping, China's sabre-rattling has intensified in recent years, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine deepened worries in Taiwan that Beijing might move similarly to annex the island.
China's "intimidation and threats against Taiwan are getting more obvious", President Tsai Ing-wen told a press conference.
"No one wants war ... but my fellow countrymen, peace will not fall from the sky."
"The current four-month military service is not enough to meet the fast and ever-changing situation," she added.
"We have decided to restore the one-year military service from 2024."
Under President Xi Jinping, China's sabre-rattling has intensified in recent years, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine deepened worries in Taiwan that Beijing might move similarly to annex the island.
China's "intimidation and threats against Taiwan are getting more obvious", President Tsai Ing-wen told a press conference.
"No one wants war ... but my fellow countrymen, peace will not fall from the sky."
"The current four-month military service is not enough to meet the fast and ever-changing situation," she added.
"We have decided to restore the one-year military service from 2024."
Conscripts will undergo more intense training, including shooting exercises, combat instruction used by US forces, and operating more powerful weapons including Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank missiles, Tsai said.
Tsai's security team, including high-level officials from the defence ministry and the National Security Council, have been reviewing Taiwan's military system since 2020, an official briefed on the matter told Reuters.
"As long as Taiwan is strong enough, it will be the home of democracy and freedom all over the world, and it will not become a battlefield," Tsai told a news conference announcing the decision, which she described as "incredibly difficult".
The current military system, including training reservists, is inefficient and insufficient to cope with China's rising military threat, especially if it launched a rapid 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 homeland and defend democracy."
Taiwan has complained of delayed US arms deliveries this year, including of Stingers, but Tsai said the situation was improving after discussions with the United States.
The de facto US embassy in Taiwan welcomed the announcement on conscription reform.
"The United States' commitment to Taiwan and steps Taiwan takes to enhance its self-defence capabilities contribute to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region," the American Institute in Taiwan said.
Mandatory service used to be deeply unpopular in Taiwan - once a brutal military dictatorship that has since morphed into a progressive democracy.
Its previous government had reduced compulsory military service from one year to four months with the aim of creating a mainly volunteer force.
But recent polling showed more than three-quarters of the Taiwanese public now believes that is too short.
The military has also struggled to recruit and retain full-time personnel because of low financial incentives.
Tsai described the extension as "an extremely difficult decision ... to ensure the democratic way of life for our future generations".
"China's various unilateral behaviours have become a major concern for regional security," said an official who took part in the high-level security discussion.
Conscripts would be tasked with guarding key infrastructure, enabling regular forces to respond more swiftly in the event of any attempt by China to invade, the defence ministry said at the same press conference.
Chieh Chung, researcher at the National Policy Foundation, a Taipei-based think tank, estimated that the extension could add an extra 60,000 to 70,000 manpower annually to the current 165,000-strong professional force in 2027 and beyond.
Even after the extension, however, the period of service will still be shorter than the 18 months mandated in South Korea, which faces a hostile and nuclear-armed North Korea.
Tsai is overseeing a broad modernisation programme, championing the idea of "asymmetric warfare" to make the island's forces more mobile, agile and harder to attack.
While the United States has pressed Taiwan to modernise its military to make it like a "porcupine" - agile and hard to attack - Tsai said there had been no pressure from Washington for these reforms.
Taiwan has been gradually shifting from a conscript military to a volunteer-dominated professional force, but China's growing assertiveness towards the island it claims as its own, as well as Russia's invasion of Ukraine, have prompted debate about how to boost defence. Russia calls the war in Ukraine a "special operation".
Tsai said they had learned "a few things" from that war that they incorporated into Taiwan's defence reforms, and saw Ukraine's ability to hold off the much larger Russian forces.
That gave the international community time to provide Ukraine the assistance they needed, she added.
Previous Taiwan governments under the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and the main opposition Kuomintang cut compulsory service for men to four months from more than two years to appeal to younger voters as tensions eased between Taipei and Beijing.
Reuters has reported that military training in Taiwan, particularly for conscripts and reservists, had deteriorated.
Xi, China's most authoritarian leader in decades, has made clear that what he calls the "reunification" of Taiwan cannot be passed on to future generations.
Taiwan and China split at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, and Tsai has said becoming a part of China is not acceptable to the people of the island.
Taiwan is a mountainous island and would present a formidable challenge to an invading force, but it is massively outgunned with 89,000 ground forces compared with China's one million, according to a Pentagon estimate released last month.
Beijing also has a huge advantage in military equipment.
Taiwan has stepped up reservist training and increased its purchases of warplanes and anti-ship missiles to bolster its defences. But experts have said that is not enough.
The military service announcement on Tuesday came two days after Chinese military exercises near Taiwan, which were held in response to what Beijing described as "provocations" and "collusion" between Washington and Taipei.
www.channelnewsasia.com
Beijing considers self-ruled, democratic Taiwan a part of its territory, to be taken one day, by force if necessary, and the island lives under the constant fear of a Chinese invasion.
Under President Xi Jinping, China's sabre-rattling has intensified in recent years, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine deepened worries in Taiwan that Beijing might move similarly to annex the island.
China's "intimidation and threats against Taiwan are getting more obvious", President Tsai Ing-wen told a press conference.
"No one wants war ... but my fellow countrymen, peace will not fall from the sky."
"The current four-month military service is not enough to meet the fast and ever-changing situation," she added.
"We have decided to restore the one-year military service from 2024."
Under President Xi Jinping, China's sabre-rattling has intensified in recent years, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine deepened worries in Taiwan that Beijing might move similarly to annex the island.
China's "intimidation and threats against Taiwan are getting more obvious", President Tsai Ing-wen told a press conference.
"No one wants war ... but my fellow countrymen, peace will not fall from the sky."
"The current four-month military service is not enough to meet the fast and ever-changing situation," she added.
"We have decided to restore the one-year military service from 2024."
Conscripts will undergo more intense training, including shooting exercises, combat instruction used by US forces, and operating more powerful weapons including Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank missiles, Tsai said.
Tsai's security team, including high-level officials from the defence ministry and the National Security Council, have been reviewing Taiwan's military system since 2020, an official briefed on the matter told Reuters.
"As long as Taiwan is strong enough, it will be the home of democracy and freedom all over the world, and it will not become a battlefield," Tsai told a news conference announcing the decision, which she described as "incredibly difficult".
The current military system, including training reservists, is inefficient and insufficient to cope with China's rising military threat, especially if it launched a rapid 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 homeland and defend democracy."
Taiwan has complained of delayed US arms deliveries this year, including of Stingers, but Tsai said the situation was improving after discussions with the United States.
The de facto US embassy in Taiwan welcomed the announcement on conscription reform.
"The United States' commitment to Taiwan and steps Taiwan takes to enhance its self-defence capabilities contribute to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region," the American Institute in Taiwan said.
Mandatory service used to be deeply unpopular in Taiwan - once a brutal military dictatorship that has since morphed into a progressive democracy.
Its previous government had reduced compulsory military service from one year to four months with the aim of creating a mainly volunteer force.
But recent polling showed more than three-quarters of the Taiwanese public now believes that is too short.
The military has also struggled to recruit and retain full-time personnel because of low financial incentives.
Tsai described the extension as "an extremely difficult decision ... to ensure the democratic way of life for our future generations".
CHINA A 'MAJOR CONCERN'
Taiwan's government says only the Taiwanese people can decide their future."China's various unilateral behaviours have become a major concern for regional security," said an official who took part in the high-level security discussion.
Conscripts would be tasked with guarding key infrastructure, enabling regular forces to respond more swiftly in the event of any attempt by China to invade, the defence ministry said at the same press conference.
Chieh Chung, researcher at the National Policy Foundation, a Taipei-based think tank, estimated that the extension could add an extra 60,000 to 70,000 manpower annually to the current 165,000-strong professional force in 2027 and beyond.
Even after the extension, however, the period of service will still be shorter than the 18 months mandated in South Korea, which faces a hostile and nuclear-armed North Korea.
Tsai is overseeing a broad modernisation programme, championing the idea of "asymmetric warfare" to make the island's forces more mobile, agile and harder to attack.
While the United States has pressed Taiwan to modernise its military to make it like a "porcupine" - agile and hard to attack - Tsai said there had been no pressure from Washington for these reforms.
Taiwan has been gradually shifting from a conscript military to a volunteer-dominated professional force, but China's growing assertiveness towards the island it claims as its own, as well as Russia's invasion of Ukraine, have prompted debate about how to boost defence. Russia calls the war in Ukraine a "special operation".
Tsai said they had learned "a few things" from that war that they incorporated into Taiwan's defence reforms, and saw Ukraine's ability to hold off the much larger Russian forces.
That gave the international community time to provide Ukraine the assistance they needed, she added.
Previous Taiwan governments under the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and the main opposition Kuomintang cut compulsory service for men to four months from more than two years to appeal to younger voters as tensions eased between Taipei and Beijing.
Reuters has reported that military training in Taiwan, particularly for conscripts and reservists, had deteriorated.
OUTGUNNED
The prospect of a Chinese invasion has increasingly worried Western nations and many of China's neighbours.Xi, China's most authoritarian leader in decades, has made clear that what he calls the "reunification" of Taiwan cannot be passed on to future generations.
Taiwan and China split at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, and Tsai has said becoming a part of China is not acceptable to the people of the island.
Taiwan is a mountainous island and would present a formidable challenge to an invading force, but it is massively outgunned with 89,000 ground forces compared with China's one million, according to a Pentagon estimate released last month.
Beijing also has a huge advantage in military equipment.
Taiwan has stepped up reservist training and increased its purchases of warplanes and anti-ship missiles to bolster its defences. But experts have said that is not enough.
The military service announcement on Tuesday came two days after Chinese military exercises near Taiwan, which were held in response to what Beijing described as "provocations" and "collusion" between Washington and Taipei.
Taiwan to extend mandatory military service to one year, citing China threat
TAIPEI: Taiwan on Tuesday (Dec 27) announced an extension in mandatory military service from four months to one year, citing the threat from an increasingly hostile China. Beijing considers self-ruled, democratic Taiwan a part of its territory, to be taken one day, by force if necessary,
