Faced with the threats of China which does not recognize the independence of the island, the formation of soldiers on the trained camp will also be extended to eight weeks. President Tsai Ing-Wen announced the measure two days after the deployments of Chinese military aircraft at her borders.
by Frédéric Lemaître (Beijing, correspondent)
Taiwan is preparing to lengthen compulsory military service from four months to one year, announced, on Tuesday, December 27, President Tsai Ing-Wen during a press conference. “The current four-month military service is not enough to respond to the situation in constant and rapid evolution,” she said. The reform, which will come into force in 2024, will apply to all men born after the 1 er January 2005. An obvious but implicit reference to Chinese threats on this territory of 24 million inhabitants, of which Beijing does not recognize independence.
of an initial duration of three years during the military dictatorship, the military service was first reduced to two years in 1990, then to one year in 2008 and to four months in January 2013 for conscripts born from from 1994. Since then, the army has been based mainly on committed, but it has trouble recruiting and keeping its staff.
“I must admit that it is a very difficult decision to make, but, as president and chief commander of our armed forces, it is my essential responsibility to protect the interest of the nation, the sustainability of Taiwan , as well as the freedom of future generations, “said Tsai Ing-Wen whose second mandate expired in 2024 and which is not re-eligible. If a majority of the population seems favorable to this lengthening of military service, it is not necessarily the same with the main concerned, the young people, which, until now, constituted one of the electoral bases of the Progressive Democratic Party, from which the Taiwanese president is the result.
In addition to the duration of military service, the training of soldiers will also be reviewed with the transition to eight weeks – against five – from the time spent within the training camps. The latter will receive the same preparation for combat as the American soldiers, affirm the Taiwanese authorities who want to endeavor to make it compatible with the school curriculum of young people so that they do not have the feeling of losing a year.
Currently, Taiwan would have 165,000 active soldiers (compared to 275,000 ten years earlier). Theoretically, the number of reservists amounts to 2 million, but those immediately ready for combat would only be 300,000 according to experts. Both in terms of personnel and means, Taiwan has fewer resources than the Chinese army, but a reform in progress is intended to make it more operational and to show in Beijing than in the event of an attack, its army would meet real resistance.
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