"Youth Service Consent" Halted, Is "Student Deployment" Causing Panic？
The Storm Media Editorial, October 18, 2024
A high school "Youth Service Consent Form" has stirred up significant concerns, which the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration likely did not anticipate. Despite the Ministry of Education (MOE) announcing on October 17 that the consent form would no longer be used, and that it would adjust the "Youth Service Mobilization Preparation Classification Plan," the mobilization for war and the panic over "student deployment" continues to spread in society.
To distance the consent form from military conflicts, Minister of Education Cheng Ing-yao stated that its primary purpose was to allow capable high school students to assist in disaster relief and support, such as helping the elderly and vulnerable. However, he added, "National defense is the responsibility of everyone." This inconsistent attitude reflects the current government's contradictory stance; while they are resolutely pushing for wartime mobilization, they still try to lullaby the public with terms like "civil power," "resilience," and "post-disaster support."
The MOE has linked the "Youth Service Consent Form" to the regulations outlined in the "All-out Defense Mobilization Readiness Act." According to Article 15, "to ensure the necessary manpower during mobilization phase," the competent authorities should plan for youth mobilization. But what constitutes the "mobilization phase"? Article 2 defines it as "the period when war occurs or is imminent or in times of emergency, when the President issues an emergency order according to the Constitution to implement nationwide or partial mobilization." In other words, the MOE’s explanation only exacerbates the situation and suggests an undeniable connection between "youth service" and "military conflicts."
Why has a single consent form led society to subconsciously associate it with escalating tensions over a possible Taiwan Strait conflict? The answer lies in events leading up to this point. On September 26, President Lai Ching-te hosted the inaugural meeting of the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee where the Deputy Secretary-General Hsu Szu-chien of the National Security Council indicated plans to train 400,000 reliable civil participants. President Lai further emphasized that one of the goals of national resilience is to "support military operations when necessary."
So, from where will these 400,000 reliable civil participants come? This raises significant confusion among the public. Will they rely on organizations like the "Kuma Academy"? Or will local religious centers be involved? After all, earlier documents suggested storing ammunition in civilian facilities like temples. Does "storing ammunition in civilian facilities" imply “the imminence of war,” with high school students now facing potential enlistment? Public concerns are not unfounded; these matters directly relate to their livelihoods and future, and no one will treat them lightly.
People are curious if, in the event of a conflict, the hawkish officials who have been vocal about "combatting China to protect Taiwan" will, as former Premier Su Tseng-chang suggested, "fight against China with brooms?" Or will they make a swift exit, escaping the situation?
On October 7, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Chang Chi-kai interpellated Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo in the Legislative Yuan on whether President Lai's son in the United States and Koo’s two children would participate in the training of these 400,000 civil participants. Minister Koo’s ambiguous response only deepened public anger and anxieties about the prospect of "going to war," intensifying feelings of helplessness and relative deprivation.
Young people feel the most immediate impact; they are the ones who would bear the brunt of being sent to the front lines. On December 27, 2022, then-President Tsai Ing-wen announced the extension of military service from 4 months to 1 year for men born from 2005 onward, igniting outrage among high school students. Some students criticized DPP members Freddy Lim and Lin Fei-fan for not having served in the military while urging them to serve for a year themselves.
The "Youth Service Consent Form" has merely re-awakened the latent and deep-rooted "anti-war" and "war anxiety" sentiments in society. According to statistics from the Education Bureau, Taipei City Government, only less than 10 percent expressed actual willingness to participate. Moreover, some high school teachers reported that "no parents have agreed" thus far, even questioning, "Would the military instructors sign the consent form for their own children?" "What about President Lai's children—would they serve?"
The reluctance of parents to see their children go to war, treated as cannon fodder, is a sentiment that transcends political affiliation and is rooted in human nature. On social media, military expert Chiu Shih-ching opined that "by the start of the 2024-2025 academic year, about 300,000 school-aged children may leave Ukraine." “Will Taiwan see a similar trend? For affluent and resourceful Taiwanese, the government's move to introduce the ‘Service Consent Form’ should set off the alarm bell. As a result, they may have made up their mind to take precautions but they don’t talk about it.”
Taiwan needs not to draw war lessons from the distant Ukraine but simply recalls events during World War II over eight decades ago. According to Japanese scholar Kondo Masami and his book Total War and Taiwan, Taiwan was forcibly drawn into the "total war" system under Japanese colonial rule after 1930. To mobilize troops, the Japanese governor's office established "reinforcement and enhancement networks" and organized "youth groups" through schools, sending trained students to battlefields in the Southeast Asia under the banner of volunteers. Women were also sent to the battlefield to serve as nurses and aides.
Such scenarios of "student deployment" also occurred in nearby Okinawa (Ryukyu). Japanese scholar Kawamitsu Akira's work "The Children of Okinawa's War" intricately depicts how young boys and girls were integrated into "defense forces" and "volunteer units", indoctrinated through school education to embody loyalty to the emperor and the spirit of sacrifice for the nation. At that time, "volunteers" were also required to obtain parental signatures, but schools would sometimes resort to forged parental consents if parents opposed.
The "student deployment" processes driven by the Japanese militarists during the Pacific War bear a chilling resemblance to the DPP administration’s push for extended military service, whole-of-society defense resilience, and the "Youth Service Consent Form." The fears and anxieties regarding the imminence of war may be the underlying reality behind the fervent rhetoric of "confront China as a way to defend Taiwan." Instead of merely halting the "Service Consent Form," the government should avoid a repeat of the "student deployment" scenario as the first step to diffuse the crisis.
Photo from: China Times
Article from: https://www.storm.mg/article/5256988?mode=whole