A new survey shows that 85% of Taiwanese citizens are in favor of extending military conscription to one year. The public opinion survey was carried out by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research and the results were released on Wednesday.
The survey comes after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) decided to extend the current four-month conscription requirement to one year in December 2022. The changes will go into effect from January 1, 2024 and will apply to male citizens born after January 1, 2005.
The survey results show overwhelming support for the extension of mandatory military service. Among the 85% of citizens that supported the extension, 63% expressed strong support for the move.
Assistant researcher at the institute Li Guan-cheng (李冠成) said that the respondents' gender, educational background, and the number of underage boys they had in their family had no influence on their stance regarding the policy change.
However, respondents' age and political party affiliation did affect how they replied to the survey. Approval was above-average among declared supporters of the ruling DPP and lower among those voting for the opposition KMT.
Approval ratings for the extension from respondents aged 18-29 years old were comparatively low at 75%.