Taiwan will extend conscription from four months to one year, President Tsai Ing-wen announced on Tuesday, stressing that the island must prepare for growing threats from China.
“The current four-month military service is not enough to respond to the constantly and rapidly changing situation,” she said at a news conference.
“We have decided to reinstate one-year military service from 2024,” she added.
The reform applies to all men born after January 1, 2005, she said.
The democratic island of Taiwan, with a population of 24 million, lives under the constant threat of an invasion from China, which sees it as part of its territory, which it hopes to one day reclaim, if necessary by force.
The announcement comes two days after Chinese military exercises near Taiwan, which Beijing says it organized in response to “provocations” and “collusion” between Washington and Taipei.
“No one wants war… but, my compatriots, peace will not fall from the sky,” declared the President again.
Under President Xi Jinping, Beijing has ramped up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan as ties deteriorated.
The prospect of a Chinese invasion is increasingly worrying Westerners and many of China’s neighbors.
Xi was re-elected to a third term as China’s leader in October, making it clear that Taiwan’s “reunification” cannot wait for future generations.
In the event of a conflict, the island of Taiwan will be far outnumbered in terms of manpower, according to Pentagon estimates, with 88,000 troops in the army versus a million for Beijing. Beijing also has a significant advantage when it comes to military equipment.
Taiwan has stepped up training for reservists and increased purchases of fighter jets and anti-ship missiles to bolster its defenses. But experts say that’s not enough.
Once unpopular, conscription was introduced by a military dictatorship before the mountainous island became a progressive democracy.
The previous government in Taipei reduced it from one year to four months, preferring to build a recruit army.
However, recent polls show that more than three-quarters of Taiwanese think this is too short a time.
The military also struggles to recruit and retain full-time staff due to weak financial incentives.
Ms Tsai described her decision to extend military service as “extremely difficult” but described it as “designed to ensure the democratic way of life for our future generations”.
China and Taiwan have been separated since the end of China’s civil war in 1949, and the Taiwanese president said joining China was not acceptable to Taiwanese.