The Ministry of National Defense appears to have confirmed reports by Chinese-language news media that it is looking into whether to extend mandatory military service to one year or more.
The various military provocations and incursions into Taiwan’s maritime and airspace over the past few years by the Chinese military, along with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) plans to invade and annex the nation, outline the threat posed to Taiwan.
International military experts are in general agreement that the chances of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan in the next five years are sharply increasing.
Since she took office, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has worked to maintain and improve Taiwan’s defensive capabilities, but national defense preparedness has yet to recover from the damage done by the reduction in the length of military conscription during former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration. Public psychological and military preparedness are also lacking.
Given Taiwan’s situation, extending the mandatory military service from its current four months to a year, or even more, is something the nation simply must do.
However, the prevailing belief that military service is a waste of time must be amended. When mandatory military service is extended, the military must prepare recruits with the expectation that they would genuinely learn something useful during their service, and become noncommissioned officers and soldiers with basic combat ability. The ministry and the armed forces have a long way to go in this regard.
The ministry and all military branches must do away with the old system of assigning basic chores to conscripts and devise a set of basic training courses that cater to Taiwan’s actual defense operations. They must be of the same standard as the US military, while using scientific principles to take into account the physical characteristics of Taiwan.
The advanced training courses and the time spent in the services must be substantial, genuinely constructive and actually teach something useful. They must be supplemented with a post-conscription call-up mechanism, which would ensure that conscripts maintain a certain level of combat fitness and military strength after their mandatory service is over.
The government should complete its review of the conscription extension plan as soon as possible, so that it can be implemented in good time for the armed forces to be adequately prepared and supported to defend the nation.
Roger Wu works in the service industry in New Taipei City.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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