The Ministry of National Defense has reached an initial consensus on the extension of mandatory military service, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) told legislators on Sept. 27, calling the extension a major issue. The final decision would be made by the end of the year after the ministry has consulted experts, academics and young people, he said.
The possible defense policy U-turn deserves public attention and support, because extending military service meets not only the nation’s needs amid the current cross-strait situation, but also the expectations of the international community.
At present, conscripts receive only four months of basic military training. That period is shorter than in Israel and South Korea — countries that are facing formidable enemies and thus have more than a year of compulsory military service.
Even though the issue has long been of concern to all sectors of Taiwanese society, the ruling and opposition camps have yet to reach a consensus on the highly sensitive matter.
Having a volunteer military system is common among democracies around the world.
However, the unstable number of recruits, as well as a large number of openings for junior officers remaining unfilled, has seriously affected the military.
To address the issue, the ministry has set up a program for “noncommissioned officers” to become “commissioned officers” and resumed the recruitment of one-year volunteer officers. It has also introduced additional measures, such as a new recall mechanism that requires 14 days of annual service.
However, those measures have failed to solve the shortage of recruits. For example, the ministry in 2017 hoped to recruit more than 1,000 noncommissioned officers to become “second lieutenants” to solve a serious shortage of junior officers, but it received little response from the troops and only about 280 people were willing to switch tracks.
In July, former US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper led a delegation to Taiwan. Asked at a news conference how Taiwan can bolster its defense capabilities, he made several recommendations.
Taiwan should adopt an “all-out defense” strategy, extend mandatory military service to at least one year and extend conscription to women, Esper said.
His recommendations are in line with the spirit of Article 20 of the Constitution: “The people shall have the duty of performing military service in accordance with law.”
It might for now not be necessary that women perform mandatory military service, but extending the service period for men to one year is an urgent task that the ministry has to address, because the threat that Chinese warships and military aircraft pose to Taiwan has exacerbated.
In August, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) used US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan as a pretext to launch aggressive military exercises in the waters around the nation, apparently practicing a blockade of Taiwan proper.
This has not only intimidated the nation, but also affected others in the Indo-Pacific region and around the world, as the Taiwan Strait, just like the South China Sea, is an important international waterway.
In the face of the heightened and normalized military threats from the CCP, Taiwan’s military service system must be adjusted to become more flexible. Otherwise, Taiwan would take a wrong direction in terms of defense strategy and military buildup, exacerbating the shortages of officers and soldiers, which would endanger national security.
Yao Chung-yuan is a professor and former deputy director of the Ministry of National Defense’s strategic planning department.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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