Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has highlighted Taiwan’s weaknesses in its reserves and civilian defense force as China looms as a threat.
. On paper, the 2.3 million reservists enable Taiwan to match China’s 2 million-strong military.
One major change was the pilot launch of a more intensive, two-week training instead of the standard one week, which will eventually be expanded to the 300,000 combat-ready reservists. The remaining reservists can play a more defensive role, such as defending bridges, Wang said. “It hasn’t followed the passage of the times and hasn’t kept pace with our fighting ability,” Wang said.Planned changes include a requirement to include security guards employed by some of Taiwan’s largest companies in the force, and the incorporation of women, who are not required to serve in the military.
More than 1,000 people have attended lectures on civil defense with Open Knowledge Taiwan, according to T.H. Schee, a tech entrepreneur who gives lectures and organizes civil defense courses with the volunteer group, which aims to make specialized knowledge accessible to the public.
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