Explainer: Why Did Taiwan Extend Compulsory Military Service To One Year?

Taiwan will extend its compulsory military service from four months to a year starting in 2024, President Tsai Ing-wen said Tuesday, as the self-ruled island faces China's military, diplomatic, and trade pressure. Taiwan constantly fears a Chinese invasion because Beijing views the island as a part of its territory that will one day be seized, if necessary by coercion.

China has been rattling its sword more frequently under President Xi Jinping in recent years, and Taiwan has grown more concerned that Beijing may take similar action to annex the island, bolstered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-wen, stated at a news conference that China's "threats and intimidation towards Taiwan are becoming more clear… No one wants war… but my fellow countrymen, peace will not fall from the sky… The current four- One month military service is not enough to meet the fast and ever-changing situation.”

"We have decided to restore the one-year military service from 2024," she added.

Men born after January 1, 2005, will be subject to the expanded requirement, according to Tsai. In Taiwan, which had had a brutal military dictatorship but has now changed to a progressive democracy, compulsory service used to be very unpopular.

With the intention of building a force that is primarily made up of volunteers, Taiwan's previous government decreased the mandatory military service from a year to four months.

Origins of the China-Taiwan conflict

According to historical records, the island was first fully governed by China in the 17th century, when the Qing dynasty took it over. After losing the first Sino-Japanese war, they later ceded the island to Japan in 1895.

After Japan lost the Second World War, China seized the island once again in 1945.

However, a civil war broke out in mainland China between Mao Zedong's Communist Party and Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist government forces. In 1949, the communists triumphed, seizing power in Beijing.

Chiang Kai-shek, along with several remaining members of his nationalist party, fled to Taiwan, where they ruled for the next several decades.

In order to prove that Taiwan was formerly a Chinese province, China cites this history. However, the Taiwanese claim that they were never a part of either the People's Republic of China, which was founded under Mao in 1949, or the contemporary Chinese state, which was initially formed following the revolution in 1911.

Why does China want Taiwan?

The Chinese government feels that annexing Taiwan would be the only way to "...foil the attempts of external forces to contain China and to safeguard the sovereignty, security, and development interests of our country."

The geographical proximity of Taiwan is another factor that bolsters China's ambition. If China were to establish facilities further out in the Pacific Ocean, this would increase its military power and keep the influence of the neighboring countries at bay. 

America's 'island chain strategy' which essentially consists of a buffer of islands between the Chinese mainland and the Western Pacific Ocean, would be distorted or disrupted if Taiwan were under US control.

According to the Australian Institute of International Affairs, if China controlled Taiwan, it could then control Asia's major shipping routes. 

China's ambition of becoming the economic might in the east further bolsters it to eye Taiwan as, according to the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook, the island's gross domestic product was nearly $US 790 billion in 2021. 

According to The Taiwan Question and China's Reunification in the New Era, China's white paper, “Taiwan boasts a high level of economic growth, industries with distinctive local features, and robust foreign trade… Its economy is highly complementary with that of the mainland.” The white paper is a term used for a government report or authoritative guide. 

Xi Jinping has time and again been saying that China's unification with Taiwan "is a historic mission and an unshakable commitment of the Communist Party of China."

Can Taiwan rely on Quad?

China's worsening relationship with each of the members of the Quad—a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States—has put Taiwan in a sweet spot. Even though Taiwan is still far from the top item on the Quad's agenda, US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio have been relentlessly very vocal about extending support to Taiwan, whenever needed. However, India has remained publicly tight-lipped about the issue. 

The Quad is bound to approach China's intimidation of Taiwan as a catastrophic scenario that might affect the entire globe rather than just the Taiwan Strait, given the significance of Taiwan in the regional theatre. 

In a bid to keep China's aggressive rise in check, which also poses a threat to the Taiwan Strait, the Quad is required to take an array of proactive measures among which the most important ones are bolstering coordinated efforts to formalize and institutionalize the Quad, and creating Tangible strategic synergies and defense cooperation with Taiwan.

(With inputs from agencies)