Taiwan will boost the training of reserve forces from 2022 amid growing tensions with Beijing, Taiwan's Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday
BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2021) Taiwan will boost the training of reserve forces from 2022 amid growing tensions with Beijing, Taiwan's Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.
China, which claims Taiwan as its sovereign territory, has increased in recent weeks its military activities near the island, including repeated Chinese warplanes' flights in the Taiwanese air defense identification zone.
The defense ministry noted that from 2022, the duration of mandatory refresher training for some reserve forces under the new program will be increased to 14 days from the current five to seven days in order to strengthen the defense capability of the reserve forces.
The first week of the refresher training under the new program will be devoted to shooting training, while the total number of hours of shooting and the standards for the number of used cartridges will be elevated. The second week will be devoted to training actions in various combat situations, as well as mastering command skills and the ability of troops to follow orders.
In early October, Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said that Beijing might consider mounting a full-scale invasion of the island by 2025. The statement came after Beijing sent nearly 150 military aircraft into Taiwan's air defense zone on October 1.
Official relations between mainland China and Taiwan were severed in 1949. Since then, the island has been governed independently and asserts its position as an autonomous country, while Beijing views Taiwan as a breakaway province. Taiwan has political and economic relations with many other nations that recognize its sovereignty.
