Taiwan to extend conscription to a year in bid to counter China threat

Taiwan has pledged to beef up its armed forces with longer military service and more muscular training as President Tsai Ing-wen seeks to strengthen the country’s defences against the threat of an attack from China.

“Nobody wants war — neither the Taiwanese people and government nor the international community. But peace will not fall from the sky,” Tsai said when announcing the defence push on Tuesday, two days after Beijing staged its largest air manoeuvres around Taiwan in more than four months. “Only preparing for war will help avoid war. Taiwan must strengthen its capability to defend itself.”

From 2024, compulsory military service for men will be extended from the current four months to a year and conscripts’ pay will be quadrupled to bring it in line with the minimum wage, said Tsai.

In addition, the defence ministry pledged to transform conscripts’ training — currently ridiculed as a waste of time because of its lack of shooting practice and focus on menial tasks — into a rigorous programme featuring wartime scenario simulation.

Po Horng-huei, vice minister of national defence, said the new training regime would also include Stinger missiles, Javelin anti-tank missiles and Kestrel anti-armour rockets. These are all weapons the US has long pushed Taiwan to use to build its capability to deter an invasion by a Chinese military that is vastly superior in both quantity and financial power.

The announcement marks a rare departure from Taiwanese politicians’ reluctance to openly discuss the danger of Chinese military aggression out of fear of losing public support. Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan although it has never ruled it and threatens to take it by force if Taipei resists unification indefinitely. A large majority of Taiwan’s public opposes becoming part of China.

Under the plans, conscripts trained in the new regime will form a garrison force mainly in charge of defending the homeland and protecting key infrastructure, while the country’s 210,000 soldiers will form the main battlefield force.

The conscription reform follows years of increasing US pressure on Taiwan to strengthen its defences. While Tsai started policy discussions on the plan shortly after her re-election in early 2020, the war in Ukraine acted as a strong catalyst to accelerate and strengthen reforms, two Taiwanese national security officials said.

Even after more than 300 days of war, “Ukraine has not fallen, the Ukrainians are still fighting hard and the Ukrainian people’s firm will to protect their homeland has moved all people around the world who love freedom and democracy”, Tsai said, adding that Taiwan needed to display the same determination and courage to defend itself in order to gain the world’s support.

She added that tackling conscription was only the first pillar of broader defence reforms that would also look at civil defence and the role of women in the military. Women are not currently conscripted in Taiwan.

The US welcomed the reform announcement. It “underscores Taiwan’s commitment to self-defence and strengthens deterrence”, said the American Institute in Taiwan, the US’s de facto embassy.

It said it would “continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defence capability in line with our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act and our One China policy”.

“The United States will continue to support a peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues, and oppose any unilateral changes in the status quo by either side.”