Taiwan's reserves system that Taiwan's small active army absolutely must have is a joke. Celebrities buy exemption and don't think they are the only ones. Or that this is the only problem.
People keep claiming the Taiwanese are island Israelis or Ukrainians. Well that's not reassuring when you consider Taiwan's ability to resist a serious Chinese invasion:
Taiwan’s military service regime, which runs alongside its conventional military, faces accusations of failing to prepare conscripts for an actual war – an alarming situation against a drumbeat of threats from its giant neighbor.
On Monday, authorities indicted 28 defendants. Prosecutors allege that, between 2016 and early this year, a four-person ring helped 24 healthy men dodge the draft by faking high blood pressure to gain a medical exemption, netting a total of 7.63 million Taiwanese dollars ($255,000).
At least 11 celebrities are now under investigation.
I've long worried about the Taiwanese willingness to fight when the going gets tough. Providing Taiwan with this or that weapon or insisting Taiwan adopt a specific approach are secondary to soldiers willing to endure bombardment, lift their heads during lulls, and kill the invaders.
Honestly, just throwing PLA troops across the Taiwan Strait might be enough to panic the Taiwanese into capitulation.
UPDATE: Timely post:
One thing that prevents a Chinese attempt to take Taiwan by forces is corruption. In China and Taiwan corruption is pervasive and crippling. This is regularly demonstrated every time China or Taiwan dismiss officers for corruption.
China at least has fear of the CCP to motivate them to fight. That might be enough of an edge.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
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NOTE: Picture from the article.
