Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said the government would not implement any changes immediately but he vowed it would release the results of its internal research regardless of what it decides. Any changes would only be effective a year after being announced and would be made following consultation with legislators, he said. “Currently, we are still in the research stage. This year we will definitely have results,” Chiu said. Some in Taiwan have suggested the four-month compulsory military service should be longer.
In recent years, China has stepped up its military harassment of the self-ruled island, which China claims as its own territory, sending fighter jets flying toward Taiwan on a near-daily basis. Taiwan and China split during a civil war in 1949.
