Nearly three-quarters of Taiwanese are amenable to extending compulsory military service to one year, while 65 percent said they would be willing to take up arms if Taiwan were attacked, a survey showed yesterday.
The length of mandatory military service was one year prior to 2008, and two years prior to 1991. It was gradually reduced and dropped to four months in 2013.
Conscripts also have the option to choose alternative military service, such as administrative jobs in government agencies or working for international cooperation programs.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
The survey shows the determination of Taiwanese to defend their country, Taiwan New Constitution Foundation deputy director Song Cheng-en (宋承恩) told a news conference held jointly by World United Formosans for Independence and Taiwan National Security Institute (TNSI) to release the survey.
The US House of Representatives last week approved the “Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act,” which would provide US$10 billion in security assistance and weapons procurement to modernize Taiwan’s defense capabilities, Song said, adding that this suggests Taiwan’s possible inclusion in the multinational Rim of the Pacific military exercises.
“Looking at these developments, we urge the Ministry of National Defense to pick up the pace on forming cooperative programs with the US, which can boost our defense capabilities and reduce the likelihood of military hostile actions by China,” he said.
The poll also showed that 49.7 percent of respondents believe the government should proactively push to establish diplomatic ties with the US.
In addition, 60.3 percent agree that Taiwan and the US should form a military alliance, while 23.1 percent said they are against it.
TNSI chairwoman Jolan Hsieh (謝若蘭) said the survey also asked people about national identity, and Taiwanese independence or unification with China.
Only 5 percent of respondents identify themselves as solely Chinese, while 31.7 percent identify as solely Taiwanese, down from about 40 percent last year, and 22.2 percent identify themselves as “people of the Republic of China [ROC],” she said.
The percentage of people who identify as “Taiwanese within the ROC” increased to 39.9 percent from 30 percent last year, she said.
The survey, conducted by Focus Survey Research Co from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1, collected 1,084 valid samples and had a margin of error of 2.98 percentage points.
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