China Raises Military Reserve Age Limits Amid Increased Tension Over Taiwan Strait
The Chinese communist regime’s military new Reserve Personnel Law will be implemented on March 1. It will raise the age limit for reserve service, covering male Chinese citizens aged between 18 and 60. Analysts say that the changes reflect the regime’s intention to invade Taiwan. The new law set the maximum service age for reserve command management and professional technical officers to 60 years old, replacing the tiered age limits of 60, 55, and 50 years old in the old reserve service law. The maximum service age for professional technical lieutenants and command management lieutenant officers are set to 50 and 45 years old respectively, instead of the current tiered limits of 45, 40, and 35 years old. China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers march next to the entrance to the Forbidden City (L) in Beijing on May 22, 2020. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images) There was also an overall raise in age limits for reserve soldiers. The maximum service age for reserve sergeants was revised to: 45 years old for corporals, sergeants and second sergeant sergeants; 55 years old for first class sergeants and sergeant majors; and 30 years old for reserve soldiers. In its “Military Service Law,” implemented by the CCP for many years before 2021, the service age of reserve soldiers was 18 to 35 years old, and “can be appropriately extended according to needs.” After the CCP revised the “Military Service Law” in 2021, the maximum age for reserve soldiers to serve was changed to “in accordance with other relevant laws and regulations.” Readiness for War Wang He, a U.S.-based China affairs observer, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 9 that the key point is why China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) put out the policy now. He said that with the current tension in the Taiwan Strait, the CCP introduced the new military reserve law, on the one hand, to deter the United States, and on the other hand, it is indeed preparing for war to invade Taiwan. “In general, it creates a momentum to exert pressure on the United States, and cooperates with the CCP’s general strategy of defeating Taiwan without fighting. However, the question of whether to have a war or not is very delicate, but it has well prepared for war.” A People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force WZ-7 high-altitude reconnaissance drone is seen a day before the 13th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai in southern China’s Guangdong Province on Sept. 27, 2021. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images) Su Tze-yun, director of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research of Taiwan, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 9 that the reserve force belongs to the national defense mobilization mechanism within the CCP. “It’s part of the national combat readiness and the fighting force. Certainly, it can be viewed that if CCP decides to attack Taiwan in the future, it will be mobilized.” Su added that the CCP has a huge military, and if it launches an attack, this mobilization force is only a supplementary means. On the contrary, for the defensive side, mobilization is one of the main means. Ning Haizhong and Luo Ya contributed to this report.
Udumbara
The Chinese communist regime’s military new Reserve Personnel Law will be implemented on March 1. It will raise the age limit for reserve service, covering male Chinese citizens aged between 18 and 60. Analysts say that the changes reflect the regime’s intention to invade Taiwan.
The new law set the maximum service age for reserve command management and professional technical officers to 60 years old, replacing the tiered age limits of 60, 55, and 50 years old in the old reserve service law.
The maximum service age for professional technical lieutenants and command management lieutenant officers are set to 50 and 45 years old respectively, instead of the current tiered limits of 45, 40, and 35 years old.
There was also an overall raise in age limits for reserve soldiers. The maximum service age for reserve sergeants was revised to: 45 years old for corporals, sergeants and second sergeant sergeants; 55 years old for first class sergeants and sergeant majors; and 30 years old for reserve soldiers.
In its “Military Service Law,” implemented by the CCP for many years before 2021, the service age of reserve soldiers was 18 to 35 years old, and “can be appropriately extended according to needs.” After the CCP revised the “Military Service Law” in 2021, the maximum age for reserve soldiers to serve was changed to “in accordance with other relevant laws and regulations.”
Readiness for War
Wang He, a U.S.-based China affairs observer, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 9 that the key point is why China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) put out the policy now.
He said that with the current tension in the Taiwan Strait, the CCP introduced the new military reserve law, on the one hand, to deter the United States, and on the other hand, it is indeed preparing for war to invade Taiwan.
“In general, it creates a momentum to exert pressure on the United States, and cooperates with the CCP’s general strategy of defeating Taiwan without fighting. However, the question of whether to have a war or not is very delicate, but it has well prepared for war.”
Su Tze-yun, director of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research of Taiwan, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 9 that the reserve force belongs to the national defense mobilization mechanism within the CCP. “It’s part of the national combat readiness and the fighting force. Certainly, it can be viewed that if CCP decides to attack Taiwan in the future, it will be mobilized.”
Su added that the CCP has a huge military, and if it launches an attack, this mobilization force is only a supplementary means. On the contrary, for the defensive side, mobilization is one of the main means.
Ning Haizhong and Luo Ya contributed to this report.
