'Prepare for war with China': Taiwan triples conscription term
Created: 12/27/2022, 11:50 am
By: Sven Hauberg
Twelve months instead of four: In future, military service will take significantly longer for Taiwan's conscripts.
The reason for this is the increasingly aggressive behavior of China.
Munich/Taipei/Beijing – In the future, young men in Taiwan will have to do much longer military service: the length of service will be tripled from four to twelve months, President Tsai Ing-wen announced in Taipei on Tuesday.
According to the Taiwanese news agency CNA, Tsai gave the reason that the country had to be prepared for a possible Chinese attack.
Men who were born after December 31, 2004 are affected by the new regulation, which is to apply from 2024.
According to Tsai, the monthly wages of conscripts will more than triple.
In view of the massive threats from China, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province, the short term of service is no longer up to date, said Tsai, who spoke of a "difficult decision" on Tuesday.
"Intimidation and threats against Taiwan" are becoming "more evident," Tsai said.
"We can only avoid war if we prepare for war, and we can only end war if we are able to fight war," the Taiwan president said.
After the Republic of China was re-established in Taiwan in 1949, men aged 18 and over had to do two to three years of military service.
From the year 2000, the length of service was gradually reduced to one year.
Under Tsai's predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, most of Taiwan's military was transformed into a professional army, while the government lowered the length of conscription to four months.
The situation between China and Taiwan is more tense than it has been for a long time
For decades, the government in Beijing has been threatening to annex democratically governed Taiwan.
China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping said at his Communist Party's congress in October that the Taiwan issue should be resolved as peacefully as possible, "but we will never promise not to use force and we reserve the right to do so to take all necessary measures".
The situation between China and Taiwan has been tense for months.
In August, Beijing responded to the visit of Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan with massive military maneuvers around the island.
In addition, warplanes and warships are repeatedly penetrating Taiwan's airspace surveillance zone (Air Defense Identification Zone, ADIZ).
On Monday, the Ministry of Defense in Taipei reported a record number of 71 Chinese military aircraft and seven warships sighted near Taiwan.
The ministry said on Twitter that 47 of the planes had entered the island's ADIZ.
Among the fighter jets were six SU-30 fighter jets, which are among the most modern in China.
The Ministry of Defense in Taipei has been reporting such incidents almost every day for months.
When will China attack Taiwan - and how will the US react?
The People's Liberation Army of China said Sunday it had "organized joint combat readiness patrols and offensive drills on the water and in the air around the island of Taiwan."
According to an army spokesman, the exercise was a "robust response to increasing collusion and provocation by the US and Taiwanese authorities."
Above all, military aid for Taiwan amounting to ten billion US dollars, which Washington recently decided, has enraged the government in Beijing.
Part of the military aid are renewed deliveries of arms to Taiwan.
China, which had recently massively relaxed its corona measures, "strongly" rejects this, said a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry on Saturday.
also read
"I'm a bit ashamed": 10,171 euros back payment for civil servants
READ
Lavrov issues an ultimatum and warns the West that NATO is “de facto” part of the Ukraine war
READ
Money shortage in the Kremlin?
Wagner boss's proposal could push Putin to take sensitive 2000 measure
READ
According to Ukraine, Russia now wants to overrun Donetsk within four days
READ
North Korea drone detected in South Korea's airspace - fighter plane on intercept course crashes
READ
Fancy a voyage of discovery?
My space
Experts disagree as to whether China intends to attack Taiwan in the coming years.
Possible dates are 2027, when China's People's Liberation Army will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding, and 2049, when the People's Republic will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1949. However, most analysts also see scenarios other than an invasion possible, such as a blockade by Taiwan or massive cyber attacks.
A military invasion would also have to be prepared for a long time, so that a surprise attack should not be expected.
It is unclear how the United States would behave in the event of an invasion.
So far, Washington has pursued a policy of ambiguity and left open whether the US would intervene militarily;
so Beijing should be kept in the dark and deterred.
Most recently, however, US President Joe Biden had repeatedly stated that the US would also provide military support to Taiwan should a Chinese attack occur.
