As Ukrainians defend their country from a Russian invasion, an overwhelming majority of Taiwanese responding to a Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation survey said they think Taiwan’s mandatory military service is too short.
The survey — conducted by the foundation on Monday and Tuesday last week — found that 76.8 percent of respondents aged 20 or older disapproved of Taiwan’s mandatory military service, with 75.9 percent saying that it should be lengthened to one year as a measure to shore up the country’s defenses against Chinese aggression, foundation chairman Michael You (游盈隆) told a news conference.
In Taiwan, combat units are comprised of volunteers, while men of military age complete a mandatory four-month boot camp, leaving as military reservists.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
Most respondents disagreed that the US would fight to protect Taiwan if China invades, including 26.5 percent who somewhat disagreed and 29.4 percent who strongly disagreed.
Seventy-eight percent of respondents disagreed that Taiwan’s military could deter Chinese aggression on its own, while 59.7 percent expressed concern that Taiwan might need to fight invaders alone, as Ukraine is doing.
Respondents largely supported Taipei’s participation in international trade sanctions against Russia, with 64.4 percent approving and 23.6 percent disapproving.
The survey, which collected 1,077 valid samples by landline telephone, has a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Speaking at the news conference, former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) slammed President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration over “lukewarm support” for proposals to bolster conscription.
Tsai’s silence on conscription and Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng’s (邱國正) comment that he “looks favorably” on extending it fall short of the leadership being shown by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he said.
The president and defense minister’s attitude puts them at odds with public opinion at a time when Taiwanese are ever more alert to Chinese aggression, Lin said.
Of the survey respondents 51.8 percent approved and 33.4 percent disapproved of Tsai’s performance, while 47 percent approved and 42.6 percent disapproved of Premier Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) performance.
With an approval rating of 36.1 percent, the DPP remained the most popular political party, followed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) at 14 percent, the Taiwan People’s Party at 13.5 percent, the New Power Party at 2.8 percent and the Taiwan Statebuilding Party at 2.5 percent.
University of Taipei industrial management and marketing professor Timothy Ting (丁庭宇), a former Taipei deputy mayor, told reporters that conscripts should serve two years and receive the same pay as active-duty soldiers.
Additional reporting by Chen Yu-fu
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said. The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure, said the people, who include a lawyer and two executives with direct knowledge of the discussions. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said the lawyer, James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm. He declined to identify
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
NOT ENOUGH: Although the US is to deliver Switchblade 300s and Altius 600M-Vs to Taiwan, military leaders believe the nation needs more attack drones, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has included the funding needed to mass-produce Type-1 and Type-2 suicide drones in next year’s budget plan, a military source said yesterday. Although the US government last month approved sales of Switchblade 300 loitering munitions and Altius 600M-V uncrewed aerial vehicles to Taiwan, which are scheduled for delivery between this year and the next, military leaders assessed that Taiwan would still have an inadequate number of attack drones to bolster national defense, the source said, asking to remain anonymous. Taiwan needs to mass produce locally made attack drones, including Type-1 and Type-2 suicide drones, they