According to a senior government official and local media, Taiwan appears ready to extend compulsory military service from the current four months to one year as the self-governing island comes under increasing Chinese military pressure.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s office said she would convene a national security meeting on Tuesday to discuss strengthening the island’s civil defense, followed by a press conference on new civil defense measures.
The official Central News Agency, citing government and ruling party sources familiar with the matter, first reported late Monday that the Taiwanese government would announce its plan to extend compulsory military service.
“China’s various unilateral practices have become a major regional security issue,” a Taiwanese official told Reuters news agency.
Under the plans, which are due to take effect in 2024, conscripts would undergo more intensive training, including shooting practice and combat briefings by the US armed forces, said the official, who declined to be named.
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Conscripts would be tasked with guarding key infrastructure so regular forces could respond more quickly in the event of an attempted invasion by China, the official added.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense declined to comment.
Taipei, which rejects Beijing’s claims of sovereignty, reported the largest Chinese Air Force incursion into the island’s air defense zone to date on Monday. 43 Chinese aircraft crossed an unofficial buffer between the two sides.
China also staged extensive war games near the island in August following a controversial visit to Taipei by then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
On Saturday, Beijing berated Washington for its new US defense spending law, which, according to the Chinese State Department, reinforced the narrative of a “Chinese threat” with military support for Taiwan. The ministry said in a statement that the defense bill “seriously affects peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
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Mandatory military service was once extremely unpopular in Taiwan, and previous governments under the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and the main opposition Kuomintang cut the length of service for men from more than two years to four months to please younger voters. By this time, tensions between Taipei and Beijing had eased.
In recent years, China has increased diplomatic, military and economic pressure on the self-governing island to accept Beijing’s rule. As relations become increasingly tense, surveys have shown that more than three quarters of the Taiwanese public now believe that four months of military service is too short.
Tsai also oversees a comprehensive military modernization program and promotes the idea of “asymmetric warfare” to make the island’s armed forces more mobile, agile, and more vulnerable.
China’s growing assertiveness against the island and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have led to a debate in Taiwan about how to strengthen its defense systems.
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Taiwanese government also says that only the Taiwanese people can decide their future, and has pledged to defend themselves in case they are attacked by China.