Denmark wants to increase the number of young people doing military service by extending conscription to women and increasing the time of service from four months to 11 months for both genders, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Wednesday.
“We do not rearm because we want war. We are rearming because we want to avoid it,” Frederiksen told a news conference.
She said the government wants ”full equality between the sexes.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
Denmark has up to 9,000 professional troops on top of the 4,700 conscripts undergoing basic training, official figures showed.
The government wants to increase the number of conscripts by 300 to reach a total of 5,000.
The country is a member of the NATO alliance and a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia’s invasion.
Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Lokke Rasmussen said that “Russia does not pose a threat to Denmark.”
“But we will not bring ourselves to a place where they could come to do that,” Lokke Rasmussen said.
All physically fit men over the age of 18 are called up for military service, which lasts about four months. However, because there are enough volunteers, there is a lottery system, meaning not all young men serve.
Last year, there were 4,717 conscripts in Denmark. Women who volunteered for military service accounted for 25.1 percent of the cohort, official figures showed.
Danish Minister of Defense Troels Lund Poulsen said the new system would require a change in the law, which he said would happen next year and take effect in 2026.
The security policy situation in Europe “has become more and more serious, and we have to take that into account when we look at future defense,” Lund Poulsen said.
“A broader basis for recruiting that includes all genders is needed,” he said, adding that it would will create “a more versatile and more complete defense.”
Under the plan for which there likely is a majority in the Danish parliament, conscripts would first spend five months in basic training, followed by six months in operational service along with supplementary training.
In 2017, Sweden instituted a military draft for both men and women because the Swedish government spoke of a deteriorating security environment in Europe and around Sweden.
The Scandinavian country had previously abolished compulsory military service for men in 2010, because there were enough volunteers to meet its military needs. It never had a military draft for women before.
Norway in 2013 introduced a law applying military conscription to both sexes.
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
RSS