Taiwan Military - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Taiwan Armed Forces: Army, Navy (includes Marine Corps), Air Force; Taiwan Coast Guard Administration; Ministry of Interior: National Police (2023)

note: the Coast Guard is a law enforcement organization with homeland security functions during peacetime and national defense missions during wartime

Military expenditures

2% of GDP (2022 est.)

2.1% of GDP (2021)

2.1% of GDP (2020)

1.8% of GDP (2019)

1.7% of GDP (2018)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 170,000 active duty troops (90,000 Army; 40,000 Navy, including approximately 10,000 marines; 40,000 Air Force) (2022)

note: Taiwan trains about 120,000 reservists annually, but in 2022 announced intentions to increase that figure to 260,000

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the Taiwan military is armed mostly with secondhand weapons and equipment provided by the US, and the US has continued to be the largest provider of arms in recent years; Taiwan also has a domestic defense industry capable of building and upgrading a range of weapons systems, including surface ships and submarines (2023)

Military service age and obligation

starting with those born in 1994, men 18-36 years of age may volunteer or must complete 4 months of compulsory military service; civil service can be substituted for military service in some cases; men born before December 1993 are required to complete compulsory service for 12 months (military or civil); men are subject to training recalls up to four times for periods not to exceed 20 days for 8 years after discharge; women may enlist but are restricted to noncombat roles in most cases; as part of its transition to an all-volunteer military, the last cohort of 12-month military conscripts completed their service obligations in December 2018 (2023)

note 1: compulsory service is 5 weeks of basic training followed by 11 weeks of specialized training with field units; in 2022, the Taiwan announced that compulsory service would be extended from 4 to 12 months beginning in January 2024

note 2: as of 2023, women made up about 15% of the active-duty military

Military - note

the military’s primary responsibility is external security, including the defense of the country’s sovereignty and territory, and the protection of Taiwan’s air space, maritime claims, and sea lanes of communication; its main focus is the challenge posed by the People’s Republic of China; the military trains regularly and conducts multiservice exercises; the Army’s primary combat forces include 9 mechanized or motorized infantry brigades, 4 armored brigades, and 3 artillery brigades; it also has an aviation and special forces command that includes several squadrons of attack helicopters; the Air Force has nearly 300 fighter and multipurpose fighter aircraft organized, plus squadrons for anti-submarine and electronic warfare, early warning, and surveillance; the Navy’s warship inventory includes 4 destroyers, 22 frigates, more than 40 corvettes, patrol vessels, and missile-armed attack craft, and 2 combat-capable attack submarines; it also has 3 marine infantry brigades 

the US Taiwan Relations Act of April 1979 states that the US shall provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character and shall maintain the capacity of the US to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or social or economic system, of the people of Taiwan (2023)

NOTE: The information regarding Taiwan on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Taiwan 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Taiwan 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.