President Tsai Ing-wen says the measure is aimed at boosting Taiwan's defence capabilities in the event of an attack from China.
Taiwan's army has shrunk in size since the early 1990s when conscription was for up to three years.
Beijing considers self-ruled, democratic Taiwan a part of its territory, to be taken one day, by force if necessary, and the island lives under the constant fear of a Chinese invasion. But recent polling showed more than three-quarters of the Taiwanese public now believes that is too short. "We can only avoid a war by preparing for a war and we can only stop a war by being capable of fighting a war."The prospect of a Chinese invasion has increasingly worried Western nations and many of China's neighbours.
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