Taipei, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan is considering extending four months of forced military service amid concerns over tensions in autonomous island democracy with China, highlighted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Defense Minister said. Said on Wednesday.
Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said the government would not implement the change immediately, but vowed to publish the results of the internal investigation, regardless of what the government decided. He said any changes would only take effect one year after they were announced and would take place after consultation with the legislators.
“Currently, we are still in the research stage. We will definitely see results this year,” says Chiu.
Some Taiwanese suggested that the four-month military service should be longer.
In recent years, China has stepped up military harassment of autonomous islands, which it claims to be its territory, and is flying fighters to Taiwan almost every day. Taiwan and China split during the 1949 civil war.
Many experts compare the situation in Taiwan and China with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.But the situation Does not fit It’s a simple story, and experts say so far, military action from China is unlikely. The war in Ukraine urged Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers to publicly say that it was “necessary” to extend their mandatory mission.
Russia’s war with Ukraine sympathized with Taiwan, and the public raised more than $ 10.6 million in five days to fund Ukraine’s refugee relief efforts.
The Taiwanese army has more than 215,000 members, the majority of whom are volunteers. Taiwanese men over the age of 18 are required to serve in the military for four months.
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Johnson Lai, Senior Video Producer at AP, contributed to this report.