The current military service, lasting four months, “is not enough to respond to the situation constantly and rapid evolution,” said Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-Wene. The reform must come into force in 2024.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
The duration of compulsory military service in Taiwan will go from four months to one year, the Taiwanese president, Tsai ING-Wenen on Tuesday December 27. “The current four-month military service is not enough to respond to the situation in constant and rapid evolution,” she said at a press conference, evoking the growing threats that China is weighing on Taiwan.
The reform, effective from 2024, will apply to all men born after the 1 er January 2005.
The Democratic Island of Taiwan and its 24 million inhabitants live under the constant threat of an invasion by China, which considers it as a part of its territory that it must reconquer, and if necessary by strength.
The announcement comes two days after Chinese military exercises near Taiwan, which Beijing says it has organized in response to “provocations” and “collusion” between Washington and Taipei. “Nobody wants war … But, my compatriots, peace will not fall from heaven,” commented Tsai Ing-Wenen.
Under the presidency of Xi Jinping, Beijing intensified military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan as relations between the two countries deteriorated. The prospect of a Chinese invasion is increasingly worried Westerners and many neighboring countries of China.
considerable military advantage of Beijing
re -elected in October for a third term at the head of China, Xi Jinping clearly declared that “reunification” of Taiwan could not wait for future generations. In the event of a conflict, the island of Taiwan would be widely exceeded in terms of military staff, with 88,000 soldiers in the army, against a million for Beijing, according to estimates of the Pentagon. Beijing also has a considerable advantage in terms of military equipment.
Taiwan has intensified the training of reservists and increased its purchases of anti-service combat and missiles to strengthen its defenses, but experts believe that it is not enough.
In the past unpopular, compulsory military service had been set up by a military dictatorship before Taiwan became a progressive democracy. The previous Taipei government had shortened him from a year to four months, preferring to develop an army of committed. But recent polls show that more than three -quarters of Taiwanese find this duration too short.
The army also has trouble recruiting and preserving full -time staff due to low financial incentives. M Me tsai described his decision to extend the military service “extremely difficult” but described it as intended to “guarantee the democratic way of life for our future generations”.
China and Taiwan have been separated since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, and the Taiwanese president declared that attachment to China was not acceptable to the Taiwanese.