Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Randall G. Schriver on Thursday applauded Taiwan’s plans to extend mandatory military service to one year from the existing four months.
Schriver, currently visiting Taipei with the U.S.-based Project 2049 Institute think tank, told a press event that he expected the extended service period would create a more effective fighting force.
The Project 2049 chair said that with Taiwan having made the decision to extend mandatory military service, “we applaud it. We think there’s opportunities to have a much better-trained force.”
Schriver added he believed the longer service period would also help create a better trained reserve force and improve civil society.
The former Pentagon official had been asked about President Tsai Ing-wen’s (???) announcement on Dec. 27 that mandatory military service for Taiwanese males would be extended to one year starting in 2024.
Though most Taiwanese defense experts have supported the decision, many of them also said that the length of service is not as important as a well-designed training program for conscripts.
Schriver said the issue of training had also been much discussed during his delegation’s ongoing visit to Taiwan, in particular in their meetings with senior government officials in charge of national security.
“We believe, as an institute, that increased training could be a key enabler to a more effective fighting force in Taiwan,” he said.
Taking Ukraine as an example, Schriver said its ability to train with NATO and the U.S. “has been a differentiator on the battlefield in favor of the Ukrainians.”
“So it’s something we’d like to see increased,” he said.
“But of course, these two issues are related. If you’re only serving for three months, there’s only so much time you can do to train. So extending conscription for a year does give more opportunities for that interaction in that training,” he added.
Meanwhile, asked to comment on a war game simulation released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on Monday — which indicated that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2026 would fail and result in thousands of casualties among Chinese, U.S., Taiwanese and Japanese forces — Schriver said the report underscored “the high cost for all parties should we fail at our current efforts to bolster deterrence.”
It also proved that “Taiwan is defendable and that we shouldn’t have a defeatist attitude,” Schriver added.
It also gives some insights on the preparations Taiwan and the U.S. need to do to be “optimally positioned” before a Chinese invasion, including the deployment of ammunition, supplies and Taiwan’s preparation for resilience in terms of energy and food, Schriver said.
Shriver added that he thought it possible to resupply Taiwan during wartime.
“Armed with this knowledge, we should be doing the kind of planning to keep lines of communication open and to have corridors for resupply,” he said.
“These games are helpful to inform future planning and future actions. So as difficult as this may seem, I don’t think it’s impossible and we should be thinking about how to do this in a contested environment.”
Schriver served as assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs from 2018 to 2019 during the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel