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ChinaMilitary

Would Taiwan’s youth fight a war against mainland China? It depends how they are asked

As Taipei ramps up rhetoric towards Beijing, youth opinions about military service differ from surveys to interviews

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Taiwan’s armed forces carry out routine drills to show combat readiness, at a military base in Kaohsiung. Taiwan has 2.3 million reservists and about 188,000 active-duty personnel. Photo: Reuters
Lawrence Chungin Taipei
Most young people in Taiwan would choose not to fight in a potential cross-strait conflict despite growing military threats from Beijing, according to informal interviews by the South China Morning Post.
In several interviews, Taiwanese youth revealed a reluctance to fight that stemmed mainly from concerns about the life-threatening nature of war and Taiwan’s military disadvantage against mainland China, described recently by Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te as a “foreign hostile force”.

Other reasons included doubts over whether the United States or its allies, such as Japan, would intervene, a perceived lack of preparedness, and the belief that war was unlikely within the next five years.

“Of course, I don’t want to go to war if given a choice because it is a matter of life and death,” said Yu Po-cheng, 25, a Taipei-based sports nutrition supply worker.

“But in the event of a mobilisation, people our age will definitely be drafted if a cross-strait war breaks out, meaning we will have to deal with it whether we want to or not,” he added.

Yu’s colleague, Lu Yi-wei, said it was every reservist’s duty to help defend Taiwan, but he had no desire to fight if there was no obligation.

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