Measures to bolster and maintain the willingness to fight is the key to extending the duration of mandatory terms of military service, which would in turn enhance international confidence in Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities, retired air force lieutenant general Chang Yen-ting (張延廷) said.
External threats have prompted Israel, Singapore, South Korea and other nations to mandate military service for one year or more, while Taiwan, despite the threat of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has only four months, Chang said.
Pundits have long called for the mandatory service period to be extended, and yet Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) on Friday was only willing to say that the issue was being “seriously considered,” Chang said.
Photo: CNA
The issue of extending mandatory service is complicated and faces potential opposition, such as issues of generational injustice and election concerns, Chang said.
Extending the service period would do nothing if people have no will to fight, he said.
Even if the government were to extend the service period, it would not help to improve combat capabilities much, he said, citing a lack of mental preparedness.
Measures to bolster and maintain willingness among Taiwanese to fight would allay international concern about the nation’s self-defense capabilities, he said.
The government should extend the mandatory military service from four months to one year, and mandate that the policy would apply to people born after a certain year, he said.
Chang cited the example when the government said that Taiwanese born after 1994 would only have to serve four months, instead of one year.
A peace-time government must have the moral courage to enact policies to extend the mandatory service period, while the Ministry of National Defense should thoroughly review its training programs, logistics and issue new standards of military education, former National Defense University lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥) said.
Without such changes, a move to extend the mandatory service period would be moot, as people would be wasting two years of their lives in a military without them, Liao said.
Any extension of the period must take into account projections of how many reservist forces Taiwan would have, he said.
An incremental increase in the service period should be implemented so the ministry can keep up with the changes, he said.
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