TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior has proposed amendments that would set a minimum one-year prison sentence for evading mandatory military service and increase penalties for those who intentionally delay conscription until they age out of eligibility.
The ministry announced the draft amendment to Article 55-1 of the Alternative Service Implementation Act to strengthen deterrence against military service evasion and related offenses. Officials said the proposal was prompted by recent high-profile cases involving entertainers accused of avoiding military service, per Liberty Times.
The ministry said military service is a constitutional obligation for eligible men and that recent cases involving conscripts overstaying visas abroad, deliberately injuring themselves, or otherwise altering their physical condition to avoid service have drawn significant public attention.
According to the ministry, existing penalties have been insufficient to deter such behavior. It said the issue also undermines fairness in the conscription system by encouraging others eligible for military or alternative service to attempt similar actions.
A key provision of the amendment would revise sentencing guidelines. Under current law, individuals who evade military service face prison terms of up to five years.
However, the ministry said many cases result in deferred prosecution, non-prosecution, or prison sentences of six months or less that can be commuted to fines. To strengthen deterrence and preserve fairness in military service obligations, the draft would change the penalty to imprisonment ranging from one to five years.
The amendment would also increase penalties by up to two-thirds for individuals who intentionally delay military service until they are no longer subject to conscription. Current regulations stipulate that men of conscription age are discharged from military service obligations on Dec. 31 of the year they turn 36, regardless of whether they have completed military service, per Liberty Times.
The ministry said some individuals may seek to exploit this provision by delaying service until they age out of eligibility. To address the loophole, the draft amendment would impose enhanced penalties on those found to have intentionally used such tactics to evade service.
Under the proposed changes, individuals seeking to avoid military or alternative service could face prison terms of one to five years for offenses including fabricating grounds for exemption or deferment, intentionally injuring themselves or altering their physical condition, failing to report for service without a valid reason, arranging for another person to serve in their place, or leaving the country without authorization, per UDN.
The ministry said the amendment is intended to strengthen Taiwan’s military service system, improve fairness, and allow courts to impose more meaningful penalties on those who evade their obligations.
