Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen announced Tuesday that Taiwan will extend compulsory military service from four months to one year starting in 2024 as part of her plans to prepare for a future conflict with China.
The extended mandatory service applies to men born after 2005 and will come into effect on January 1, 2024. According to The South China Morning Post, the plan is seen as unpopular among Taiwan’s youth and could hurt Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party in the 2024 presidential election.
“I must admit it is a highly difficult decision to make, but as a president and commander-in-chief of our forces, I must do so to uphold the interest of the nation and the persistent survival of Taiwan as well as the free [people] living in the generations to come,” Tsai said when asked if she was worried about the announcement impacting the election.
Tsai’s announcement came a few months after former US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper visited Taiwan and called for the island to extend its compulsory service to better prepare for war with China. “I believe that Taiwan needs to lengthen and toughen its conscription. That means to have young Taiwanese boys and girls serve at least one year if not longer, in their nation’s military,” Esper said in July.
Tsai’s plan will also overhaul training for Taiwanese conscripts, and a Taiwanese legislative source told the Post that it would involve training similar to what US forces receive. “Combat instructions currently used by the US military will be included as part of the training for the conscripts under the plan aimed at overhauling the structure of the military forces,” the source said.
According to The Associated Press, the White House welcomed Tsai’s announcement and said the US would continue supporting Taiwan. “We will continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability in line with our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act and our one-China policy,” the White House said.
The 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) President Biden signed into law on Friday will give Taiwan unprecedented military aid and includes provisions to increase joint US and Taiwanese military drills and training.
Since the US severed diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979, it has deployed small numbers of military trainers to Taiwan, but the presence has been unofficial, and the new cooperation is expected to be more overt. In October 2021, Tsai acknowledged the presence of US troops in Taiwan, marking the first time a Taiwanese leader did so since 1979.
China on Sunday responded to the new US support for Taiwan included in the NDAA by launching major drills around the island. China’s People’s Liberation Army said the exercises were done in response to the “escalating collusion and provocation by the United States and Taiwan.”
Is there another World War in our future?…
Thanks for your honesty ED.
We could place some bets on that, but who would be around to collect?
So she loses the election but continues on with her agenda instead of the people’s.It sounds like someone else we know.
They say the Third World War will be our last. I think Einstein was a believer in that…
The third world war won`t be the last , the fourth world war will be about survival of the fittest from the third world war , it`s in the human DNA to make war on each other , no matter how hard humans try they just can`t help it .
Soylent Green time…………..
I was thinking about the first scene in the movie 2001 where the ape picks up a bone and kills the other ape. We have just gotten more sophisticated in how we kill each other.
Perhaps we are fated?…
“Collusion… And provocation?” By the USA? Of course there is.
US Sec. of Defense, Esper, can kiss my buttocks.
Yeah,, mine too.
Next election and they will unify with china.
It would be in their best interests , has it is they are heading for a show down with China with the Americans pulling their strings.
“Mark Esper” would have also told her -“Come election time, tensions will have heightened to the point where it will be necessary for you -‘with great sadness and regret’, of course- to declare martial law.”
Following any period of extended (relative) peace, nations devise rationales for war. The human beast breathes in, its brain waves slow down, it breathes out, breathes in again — thinks: this is boring. My evolutionarily developed body and brain want action. Action = striking out in a threatening environment, meeting potential violence with actual violence. Reacting differently is very difficult, requires sustained self-reflection and thought. Our nearest relative is the chimp, who, despite Jane Goodall’s fond hopes, is not peaceful but fearsome and terrifying.
Of note: this extension to one year was at US suggestion.
What I’ve enjoyed most whilst visiting the planet earth?…. Reefer. People. (like someone don’t like others…) I’d hate to go to war with China because I adore Chinese food, oh and people…Oh, I don’t eat Chinese people, just their food…
I bet that’s a real politically popular move, and all of that just get some LOANS from America for bombs. Can’t wait to see the pro independence party gets slaughtered next election in Taiwan.
If you do the training efficiently you can train most soldiers in six months. A medic or a tank crew, for example. Most roles would not need one year.
Any thinking.person seeing all.of this Saber rattling by.US and.Taiwan and Israel should be scared shitless.
Conscripts don`t make very good soldiers , in WW2 Russian conscripts had a choice , go forward or be shot where you stand .
Pretty shrewd, China is right there. They are causing Taiwan to spend precious money on military preparedness, rather than on things more necessary. We are not giving them weapons on the free.
A self fulfilling prophecy in the making.
“”The White House welcomed the plan, which will take effect in 2024″”
i’m sure that taiwan is breathing a sigh of relief knowing that uncle sam approves of their plan
Meanwhile, “totalitarian” China hasn’t had conscription since 1949.