Why Taiwan may consider allowing foreigners to join its army

Taiwan’s military is considering the idea of recruiting foreigners into its armed forces.

It is important to note that this proposal is still in its early stages and requires further discussion across various levels.

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But why is Taiwan considering allowing foreigners to join the military?

Let’s take a look:

Why Taiwan’s military is considering recruiting foreign fighters

Taiwan is suffering from a shortage of troops, a situation made more concerning by the escalating pressure from China.

Lawmakers and security experts have been exploring various ways to strengthen troop numbers, with the establishment of a “foreign legion” being one of several proposals currently under consideration, The Telegraph UK reported.

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Notably, the island’s army has seen a decline in numbers, now operating at 80% strength, according to Radio Free Asia, which cited a report from the defence ministry. The military’s staffing level was at 89% in 2020.

Richard Chen, a legislator, suggested that Taiwan might adopt a model similar to the US, where foreigners could serve for two years and be granted citizenship, though he added that a formal consultation process “has yet to start.”

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Alexander Huang, a security expert and professor at Tamkang University, said, “According to the Legislative Yuan Budget Center, the volunteer force’s manpower was 12,000 fewer from January 2022 to June 2024,” as per RFA.

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Data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ (IISS) Military Balance 2022 report revealed that Taiwan’s active military personnel stands at 169,000, supported by about 1.66 million reservists, according to the UK daily.

Meanwhile, China’s People’s Liberation Army has over 2 million active soldiers and 500,000 reservists.

What led to the shortage in armed forces?

Retired Adm. Richard Chen Yeong-kang, a legislator from the nationalist party Kuomintang (KMT), explained to RFA in December that multiple factors have contributed to the decline in Taiwan’s military personnel.

“First of all, Taiwan has a very low birth rate, which is currently the second slowest in Asia after South Korea,” he said.

Another major issue is the competition from the civilian sector, which offers higher salaries and better benefits, making a career in the military less appealing to young people.

Taiwan’s armed forces, comprised of voluntary troops and all-male reservists, previously aimed to transition to an all-volunteer military system. During the 2000s, the country gradually reduced the compulsory service period, cutting it from two years to one, and eventually to four months by 2013, according to South China Morning Post.

However, this shift has been reversed due to the growing military pressure from mainland China and a shrinking armed force. In response, Taiwan reinstated the one-year conscription period in January 2024 to boost the number of conscripts.

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Experts, however, argue that this change does little to address the shortage of personnel in combat units that require extensive training and professional skills.

As of January 2024, Taiwan brought back the national one-year mandatory service to increase the overall number of recruits but experts said that this does little to help combat units which need lengthy training and professional skills.

The concern is that, apart from the sharp disparity in military capabilities across the Taiwan Strait, the country now faces a lack of manpower to effectively operate and train with new weapons.

“With [a trend] of forces quitting their jobs, the new personnel have not been able to live up to standards with their operational skills and tactical knowledge,” Lu Li-shih, a former instructor at the Taiwanese naval academy in Kaohsiung, told SCMP.

Further, Taiwan’s declining birth rate means the number of new reservists will continue to decrease. Lu stated that university admissions were expected to hit their lowest point in about four years, leading to fewer men meeting the conscription age of 19 in the coming years.

Chang Yan-ting, a former deputy commander of the Taiwanese air force and chair professor at the National Tsing Hua University, told SCMP that unattractive compensation and increasing workloads were major factors driving volunteer soldiers to quit their positions, even when forced to pay early termination fees.

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Taiwan’s large force of migrant workers

Currently, foreigners are not allowed to join the reserve forces, but plans are underway to change that.

According to official statistics, Taiwan has around 750,000 foreign workers among its 950,000 foreign residents.

David Spencer, chief executive of the Taiwan Policy Centre, an independent think tank, told RFA, “There will doubtless be many foreigners who have settled down in Taiwan and made a life for themselves here and who, in the event of an invasion, would be willing to take up arms to defend their adopted homeland.”

Vietnam, which last fought a war in the 1980s, has about 300,000 citizens residing in Taiwan.

“I wouldn’t mind fighting for Taiwan if the pay is right,” a Vietnamese migrant worker told RFA.

It is important to note that China views Taiwan, a democratic state, as part of its territory and has never ruled out using force to take control. Beijing often threatens Taipei with incursions involving warships, military jets, and other grey-zone tactics that challenge the island’s defences without leading to direct conflict.

Earlier this week, Taiwan’s coastguard intercepted a Chinese vessel suspected of damaging an internet cable in waters off the north-east of the island, according to The Telegraph UK. Two years ago, several of Taiwan’s remote islands were nearly completely isolated from the internet following damage to its subsea cables by Chinese vessels.

With inputs from agencies