Taiwan: The Defense Ministry of Taiwan has announced that the country has plans to include women in its reservist training for the first time as the island tries to bolster its forces against threats from China.

The Defense Ministry stated that it will allow 220 discharged female soldiers to enrol in the training starting in the second quarter of 2023. According to Major General Yu Wen-cheng, from the ministry’s All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency, the move would be on a trial basis for the year.

“We will plan the training capacities according to the number of applicants. The voluntary programs aim to strengthen the effectiveness of the retraining of reserve troops in combat skills to help improve the combat capabilities of reservists,” Mr. Wen-cheng remarked.

The ministry has previously commented that it only trains male reservists because it does not have sufficient capacity to accommodate both sexes.

Earlier, Taiwanese lawmakers had criticised the military for excluding women from reserve training, saying it amounted to gender discrimination.

In December 2022, Taiwan announced it was increasing mandatory military service for men to one year, up from four months, citing the threat from an increasingly hostile China.

President Ms. Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s first female president, stated that the extension of military service was necessary to “ensure the democratic way of life for our future generations.”

According to the CIA World Factbook, the country has a military force of about 170,000 personnel, mostly volunteers, while also training about 120,000 reservists annually.

WORLD ROUNDUP: Pacific Island Forum demands Japan to delay Fukushima water release