Taiwan to increase reserve force training in face of rising tensions with China

As China's military exercises near the island of Taiwan have recently increased, on Tuesday, Taiwan said that it will increase reserve force training by 2022. As per a report by Sputnik, Taiwan's defence ministry stated that starting in 2022, the duration of mandatory refresher training for some reserve forces under the new programme will be expanded to 14 days to boost reserve forces' defence capability.

The first week of the new program's refresher training will be devoted to shooting instructions, with total number of hours of shooting and the number of expended cartridges being increased. The second week will be spent practising in a variety of combat scenarios, as well as mastering command abilities and troops' ability to follow commands.

Beijing may consider staging a full-scale invasion of Taiwan by 2025

Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng stated in early October that Beijing may consider staging a full-scale invasion of Taiwan by 2025. As Beijing asserts full control over the democratic island of Taiwan, the number of intrusions has increased.
Despite the fact that the two sides have been administered independently for more than seven decades, Taiwan is a democracy with about 24 million inhabitants located off the southeast coast of mainland China.

On the other side, Taipei has fought Chinese aggression by strengthening strategic connections with democracies such as the United States, which Beijing has consistently opposed. China has also warned Taiwan that if they declare independence, they will see full retaliation from China. On June 1, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to complete reunification with self-ruled Taiwan and warned to crush any moves to grant the island formal independence.

PLA dispatched nearly 200 military aircraft to Taiwan in October

In October, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) dispatched nearly 200 military aircraft to Taiwan for training, a move that experts claimed averted Taiwan separatist provocations and foreign involvement attempts. According to a press release from Taiwan's defence authorities, 8 PLA aircraft entered Taiwan's self-proclaimed southwest air defence identification zone on Sunday, October 31, including one Y-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft, six J-16 fighter jets, and one KJ-500 early warning aircraft, with the Y-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft flying southeast of the island through the Bashi Channel.

(With inputs from ANI)

Image: AP