China slams Taiwan’s ‘cannon fodder’ conscription decision

BEIJING - China’s government has criticised Taiwan for seeking to use the Taiwanese people as “cannon fodder” by extending compulsory military service from four months to one year starting from 2024.

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen had announced the extension to compulsory military service on Tuesday. She had cited the rising threat that the island faces from its giant neighbour China.

China considers Taiwan its territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.

Responding to a question on Taiwan’s decision to lengthen the period of miltary service, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday that “struggling for the great task of achieving national reunification is immeasurably significant, dying for Taiwan independence separatist activities is completely worthless”.

“We believe Taiwan compatriots are highly principled, they will not be put up as cannon fodder by Taiwan independence separatist forces,” Mr Wang told a regular news conference.

China has ramped up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan to assert its sovereignty claims, including almost daily Chinese air force missions near the island over the past three years.

Taipei, which rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims to Taiwan, reported on Monday the largest-ever Chinese air force incursion into the island’s air defence identification zone, with 43 Chinese planes crossing an unofficial buffer between the two sides.

In announcing the extension of its mandatory military service on Tuesday, President Tsai said Taiwan’s current military system, including training reservists, is inefficient and insufficient to cope with China’s rising military threat, especially if Beijing launches a rapid attack on the island.

The conscripts in Taiwan will undergo more intense training, including shooting exercises, combat instruction used by US forces, and operating more powerful weapons including Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank missiles, Ms Tsai added.

Taiwan has complained of delayed US arms deliveries in 2022, including of Stingers, but Ms Tsai said the situation is improving after discussions with the United States.

Conscripts would be tasked with guarding key infrastructure, enabling regular forces to respond more swiftly in the event of any attempt by China to invade, the defence ministry said at the same press conference.

The Taiwanese government will boost the pay of conscripts during their year, giving them a monthly salary of NT$26,000 (S$1,140). This is to make the requirement more palatable for young men, given that the figure had been around NT$6,500, less than a quarter what minimum wage would provide. 

Mr Chieh Chung, researcher at the National Policy Foundation, a Taipei-based think-tank, estimated that the extension could add an extra 60,000 to 70,000 manpower annually to the current 165,000-strong professional force in 2027 and beyond.

Separately, China has appointed Mr Song Tao, a senior diplomat and former director of the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party, as head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of China’s State Council, the office’s website showed on Wednesday. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG