Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), maintains an activeconscription system in accordance with the regulations set by thegovernment of the Republic of China. All qualified male citizens of military age in the country are obligated to perform 1 year onactive dutymilitary service or receive 4 months ofmilitary training.
In the earlyhistory of Taiwan, armed forces were composed ofmilitary volunteers. Conscription was first enforced in Taiwan in January 1945, the final year ofJapanese colonial rule. TheGovernment-General of Taiwan forcibly draftedTaiwanese people to join theImperial Japanese Army (IJA) andNavy (IJN) to fight on inWorld War II. After theSurrender of Japan, thegovernment of the Republic of China which occupied Taiwan as the representative of theAllied Forces in 1945, restarted conscription in Taiwan in December 1949 just after losing theChinese Civil War on the mainland andretreating to the island. Duration of compulsory military service for all Taiwanese male citizens ranged between 2 and 3 years in the 2nd half of the 20th century.
In the 2000s, thegovernment of the Republic of China were aiming for an allvolunteer military. Duration of compulsory military service were reduced gradually from 2 years in 2000 to 1 year in 2008. In addition, analternative civilian service system, called thesubstitute service, was also established in 2000. In the 2010s, the government made further progress for an all volunteer military goal to end the mandatory military service. A separatemilitary training scheme was implemented in 2013, which has a duration of about 4 months. The transition from active duty military service tomilitary training was done in late 2018. Starting 2019, most personnel ofRepublic of China Armed Forces were largelymilitary volunteers.
But since 2017, the rapid deterioration ofPeople's Republic of China–United States relations has made a concern that the PRCmay seek to finalize the current ambiguousstatus quo of Taiwan Strait dating back to the 1940s with itsPeople's Liberation Army (PLA). In December 2022, thegovernment of the Republic of China announced an reinstatement of the mandatory 1 year longactive dutymilitary service from January 2024.
Early ruling regimes of Taiwan, such asDutch East India Company,Spanish Empire,Kingdom of Tungning,Qing Empire, andRepublic of Formosa, maintained their own armed forces in Taiwan from recruiting military volunteers fromTaiwanese people (includingTaiwanese indigenous peoples) or from outside Taiwan.
Since the beginning of theSecond Sino-Japanese War in 1937, theGovernment-General of Taiwan recruited Taiwanesemilitary volunteers to serve in theImperial Japanese Army andNavy.[1] The 1941 Japaneseattack on Pearl Harbor has made the war betweenJapan andChina up to a full scaleWorld War II. As the war beak, theGovernment-General of Taiwan set up several military recruiting programs forTaiwanese people to join the military, including
Finally, conscription was performed in Taiwan from January 1945, until thesurrender of Japan in August 1945.
From 1937 to 1945, over 207,183 Taiwanese peopleserved in the Imperial Japanese military, including 80,433 on active duty and 126,750 civilian employees.
In August 1945, after theWorld War II, theRepublic of China (ROC) occupied Taiwan as the representative of theAllied Forces. However, after losing theChinese Civil War, thegovernmentretreated to Taiwan, the place it just occupied from Japan 4 years ago, in December 1949. Mandatory conscription was introduced in Taiwan in December 1949 to prevent possible invasion from theChinese Communist Party-led People's Republic of China (PRC).
In the 1950s, the government enacted significant amendments to theAct of Military Service System (兵役法) to modernize the conscription system in Taiwan. The amendedAct has clarified the male citizens shall be on 2 to 3 years ofactive duty in theArmed Forces depends on the branches (2 years forArmy, 3 years forNavy,Air Force,Marine Corps). The amendedAct also created a system for theMinistry of National Defense to select reserved officers (預備軍官) and reserved non-commissioned officer (預備士官) from regular male citizens to extend the military mobilization ability. This situation was created due togeopolitics under theCold War and remained unchanged until late 1980s.
Taiwan announced to lift themartial law in 1987 and implemented a full scaledemocratization in the 1990s. The conscription policy has also been reviewed at his period. At his time, the majority of allenlisted positions in theRepublic of China Armed Forces (ROCAF) were filled by draftees which served 2 years onactive duty. As thenational defense policy has changed, the duration of mandatory service has also been reduced. From 2 years in 1990 down to 1 year 10 months in 2000. Then a 2 months term cut on mandatory military service each year between 2004 and 2008 until a total of 1 year remained in 2008.
In the 2000s, there was also an increase in service options open to draftees, includingalternative civilian service system, calledSubstitute service, with theMinistry of the Interior (MOI), as well as specialized service options for draftees in specific professions. TheNational Conscription Agency has also been established under MOI to administrates the raft process is set forth by theAct of Military Service System.[2] Alternative military service members participate incivil defense activities.[3]
In 2007, theMinistry of National Defense had announced that should voluntary enlistment reach sufficient numbers, the compulsory service period for draftees will be shortened to 14 months. It will be further shortened to 12 months in 2009.[4][5][6]
On 10 March 2009,Minister of DefenseChen Chao-min said by the end of 2014, the country will have an all-volunteer military force. The process of removing conscription will begin in 2010 and by the end of 2014 an all volunteer force will replace the conscripts. Individuals who wish to join must have a minimum of high school education and those who do not volunteer for the military will be required to complete four months of military boot camp.[7]
In 2012, it was reported that from 2013 on, military draftees born after 1 January 1994, will only need to receive four months of military training and will no longer be required to serve one year ofmilitary service, and that the government was on track to replace all serving conscripts with volunteers by the end of 2014.[8] However, this timetable was pushed back in 2013 to the end of 2016.[9] Ultimately, this plan was scrapped and plans for abolishing conscription were never brought up thereafter.
Service time for men born on or after 1 January 1994 was cut to four months in 2013. The last group of mandatory conscripts were discharged in December 2018.[10] However, other sources says that conscription unofficially if not technically still exists as the transition to an all-volunteer force has been unsuccessful in recruiting enough volunteer soldiers to fulfill the defensive needs.[11][12]
In January 2023, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry announced that it would allowwomen to volunteer for reserve force training, amid an increase of military pressure from China. The Defense Ministry stated that it only trained male reservists because it only had sufficient capacity to accommodate men. Taiwanese lawmakers claimed excluding women from reserve training amounted togender discrimination.[13]
Since 2017, the rapid deterioration ofPeople's Republic of China–United States relations has made a concern that China may seek to change thestatus quo of Taiwan Strait with itsPeople's Liberation Army (PLA).
In December 2022, PresidentTsai Ing-wen announced the extension of compulsory military service to one year from four months from 2024, returning to the duration of conscription from 2008 to 2013, citing the rising military threat from thePeople's Liberation Army (PLA) of the People's Republic of China (PRC).[14]
Military service is defined as a duty of citizens in the Article 20 of theConstitution of the Republic of China: "The people shall have the duty of performing military service in accordance with law." TheAct of Military Service System (兵役法) and theEnforcement Act of Act of Military Service System (兵役法施行法) provide details of the country's military service system and procedures to conduct conscription in Taiwan.
In the regulations the conscription is handled jointly by theMinistry of the Interior and theMinistry of National Defense. TheNational Conscription Agency was created under theMinistry of the Interior in 2002 to administrate the conscription in Taiwan.
In accordance with the Law, male citizens achieved conscription age on the next 1 January after his 18th birthday. Conscription age male citizens are required to report its basic profiles the and attend conscription physical examination. Qualified conscription age male citizens may serve in the following types of military service to fulfill the statutory obligation.[15]
| Type | Notes | |
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| Reserved officer service (預備軍官役) |
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| Reserved non-commissioned officer service (預備士官役) | ||
| Standing soldier service (常備兵役) | Active service (現役) |
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| Military training (軍事訓練) |
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| Replacement soldier service (補充兵役) |
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| Substitute service (替代役) |
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After completing the service period required by law, the conscription age male citizens are transformed intomilitary reserve force. Male citizens performed Standing Soldier Service has their conscription age end and discharged in the next 1 January after their 36th birthday. However, male citizens performed in Reserved Officer and Non-Commissioned Officer Service has their conscription age end and discharged until they turned 50 in age.
In 2023, Taiwanese Ministry of the Interior estimated that the Research and Development Substitute Service program contributed NT$100 billion (US$3.19 billion) in value annually to the companies and organizations involved.[17]
The military draft process occurs in four steps:
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Conscription in Asia | |
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| Sovereign states |
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| States with limited recognition | |
| Dependencies and other territories | |
