Can Taiwan fix its military manpower shortage by training reservists in advanced weapons?

Taiwan is requiring its reservists to train longer and harder, introducing drones and US-made Himars rocket systems into a revamped 14-day call-up programme as it races to offset worsening troop shortages amid a demographic decline.

One of the biggest reforms of Taiwan’s reserve force in decades, the overhaul reflects growing concern that a shrinking pool of military-age recruits and mounting pressure from Beijing mean the island can no longer rely solely on its standing military.

From this year, Taiwan has scrapped its previous five- to seven-day reserve call-up programme and replaced it with a mandatory 14-day course for all eligible reservists, the island’s defence minister said during a legislative hearing late last month.

“Besides training on new systems such as drones and the US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars), reservists will return to units matching the roles they held while on active duty under the military’s ‘returning personnel to their original positions’ policy,” Wellington Koo Li-hsiung said.

The defence ministry also plans to amend the law to place retired female volunteer service members under the reserve mobilisation system, arguing that women who served alongside men in active units should continue contributing after leaving the military.

The reforms come as Taiwan confronts a deepening manpower shortage.