Taiwan’s youth volunteer corps scheme in limbo over wartime combat fears
Education Ministry apologises after students were given consent forms to serve during conflicts or disasters
Under the island’s All-Out Defence Mobilisation Readiness Act of 2001, minors can be mobilised for the non-combat youth service corps during conflicts and natural disasters.
But after volunteer consent forms for the corps were distributed to high school students, concerns erupted this month that children “could be sent to the front lines if [the People’s Liberation Army] invaded”, according to the Taipei Times.
According to Taiwanese media reports, parents were worried that the forms were for wartime service.
On Monday, the Ministry of Education denied that the forms existed but two days later the ministry acknowledged that students could volunteer for service, though not on the battlefield.
The ministry said that until last year, high schools and colleges routinely submitted students’ details to local authorities to mobilise youth during conflicts or natural disasters. However, the practice was replaced with a volunteer system to give students a choice and to protect data privacy, the ministry said.