Politics

Taiwan to extend training periods of reservists amid tensions with China

Beijing, Nov 2 (EFE).- Taiwan will extend the training periods of its reservist military forces to improve combat readiness amid escalating tensions with China, a defense ministry official said Tuesday.

Reservists will undergo two weeks of training instead of the current five to seven days, said Ma Chia-lung, deputy head of the Ministry of National Defense’s All-out Defense Mobilization Office.

They can also be asked to train for two consecutive years rather than every other year, he added, official news agency CNA reported.

Ma described the move as part of the government’s plans to ensure that the Taiwanese reservists were trained sufficiently to provide support to the regular forces in protecting the island.

Tensions in the Taiwan Strait have escalated recently following air maneuvers by China near the island.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has confirmed that the United States has a small contingent of military personnel stationed on the island to train local forces.

Taiwan is a major point of conflict between China and the US.

The tension stems mainly from the fact that Washington is the main supplier of arms to Taiwan and would be its biggest military ally in the event of a war with Beijing, which claims sovereignty over the Island.

These developments have caused relations between Taipei and Beijing to sink to their lowest level in the past four decades, according to local Taiwanese authorities. EFE

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