The News Lens
Date: 2019/09/09
By: Andrew Maxey and Allen Chen6

Under China's increasing military threats, Taiwan's current conscription system only requires draftees to serve for 4 months without any substantial training. How would Taiwan respond to conflicts with an undertrained military?Taiwan’s recent arms purchases from the United States once again drew attention to the island's self-defense capabilities. With China’s increasingly aggressive threats, Taiwan’s military not only needs to upgrade its weapons but also its organization.

However, Taiwan’s weak military training has left its draftees unprepared for war; and with the switch to an all-volunteer force impeded by budgetary and manpower issues, compulsory military service is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

The question then is how to fix the system for draftees to be trained effectively instead of wasting their time and creating a weak point in Taiwan’s national defense. With the spectre of China always looming in the background, Taiwan ought to use its limited resources in the most effective way possible to provide a credible deterrent against a deep-pocketed China.    [FULL  STORY]