Taiwan is expected to announce on Tuesday an extension in mandatory military service from four months to one year, citing the threat from an increasingly hostile China, local media reported. Self-ruled, democratic Taiwan lives under the constant threat of invasion by China, which considers the island a part of its territory, to be taken one day, by force if necessary. The prospect of a Chinese invasion has increasingly worried Western nations and many of China's neighbours. Mandatory service used to be deeply unpopular in Taiwan -- once a brutal military dictatorship that has since morphed into a progressive democracy. Its previous government had reduced compulsory military service from one year to four months with the aim of creating a mainly volunteer force.

Source: The Standard December 27, 2022 05:02 UTC