Taiwan makes military service mandatory for an extra year

• Taiwan would increase the length of its four-month military service requirement to one year.
• The choice was made in the midst of escalating hostilities with China.
• Taiwan has also become a hotspot in relations between China and the US.

According to President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan would increase the length of its four-month military service requirement to one year.

The choice was made in the midst of escalating hostilities with China, which asserts sovereignty over the island.

President Tsai unveiled fresh preparations on Tuesday during a news conference to strengthen Taiwan’s defence in the event of a Beijing attack.

She declared, “Peace won’t fall from the skies… Taiwan is at the forefront of authoritarian growth.

Conscripts, according to President Tsai, would also receive more rigorous training that incorporates aspects from the US military and other highly developed militaries. She continued by saying that the island’s current defence system was unable to fend off aggression from China, which has one of the biggest and most sophisticated militaries in the world.

Since the early 1990s, when all men above the age of 18 were forced to serve in the military for up to three years, the Taiwanese army has decreased. Service was cut in half during the following several decades, first to one year and 10 months and then to four months. The new regulation will go into force in January 2024, which is also the month Taiwan will choose its new president.

President Tsai stated, “This is a very tough decision, but as the commander of the military, it is my inevitable duty to defend our national interests and our democratic way of life.”

She said that “China’s military aggression has become increasingly clear since its war game in August,” saying that “no one wants war, Taiwan and the Taiwanese people are the same, and the international community is the same.”

Following US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island, tensions between Taipei and Beijing grew in August.

In retaliation, Beijing conducted its largest-ever military drills in the waters surrounding Taiwan. The exercises were deemed “extremely provocative” by Taipei.

In his opening remarks at the Communist party Congress in Beijing in October, Chinese President Xi Jinping did not rule out the use of force to bring Taiwan under Chinese control. Later on in the same week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken asserted that China is moving toward unification with Taiwan “far faster” than had been anticipated.

Given the island’s close links to the US government, Taiwan has also become a hotspot in relations between China and the US.

When Mr. Xi and US President Joe Biden met at the G20 conference in November, it was rumoured to have been a hot topic of conversation. Mr. Biden stated he did not think China would invade Taiwan after the meeting.

But on Monday, Taiwan recorded one of the largest Chinese incursions around the island, with 71 Chinese air force aircraft, including fighter jets and drones, flying into Taiwan’s so-called air defence identification zone. This heightened tensions once more.

Also Read

  Chinese military exercises are ongoing around Taiwan as a US congressional delegation is there

A day after a US congressional delegation arrived in Taipei, China's military...