Director of the Republic of China Ministry of Nationwide Defence’s Strategic Planning Division Lieutenant Common Huang Wen-chi has confirmed plans to re-equip Republic of China Army reserve items with armoured autos, self-propelled artillery, and unmanned plane, as a part of broader efforts to bolster the capabilities of reserve forces. He added that procurement targets shall be adjusted as wanted primarily based on modifications within the safety scenario within the Taiwan Strait. Variants of the domestically produced CM-32/33/34 Clouded Leopard eight wheeled armoured car are anticipated to be procured to equip reserve items, and may be geared up with 81mm and 120mm mortars. Wheeled tanks geared up with 105mm cannons are additionally anticipated to be procured for this function.
Not like the Chinese language Individuals’s Liberation Army on the mainland, with which the Republic of China Armed Forces (RoCAF) primarily based on Taiwan Island stay in a state of civil conflict, the RoCAF depends on a primarily conscript power fairly than volunteers. The capabilities of conscripted reserve items has lengthy been in query, nevertheless, with coaching of simply 4 months limiting precise capabilities. Plans to extend conscription to a 12 months, though falling in need of requirements seen overseas corresponding to in South Korea, is predicted to boost requirements and permit personnel to be educated on extra complicated tools together with autos and heavy weapons. Navy sources have indicated that it’s crucial to change the normal observe of utilizing manpower to hold gentle rifles, machine weapons, and small-caliber artillery, so as to to permit motorised reserve items to be fielded to permit them to supply a simpler fashionable warfare functionality.
In July 2025 a brand new audit of the Republic of China Armed Forces revealed that the Army’s reserve items have been lacking 30 % of their tools, with some classes of apparatus corresponding to communications and medical help having fallen beneath 60 % availability. This audit mirrored poorly on efforts taken over 4 years to strengthen the reserve system. In parallel to this situation, the Republic of China Ministry of Nationwide Defence confirmed stories on the time that CM-32 Clouded Leopard infantry combating autos have been affected by structural cracks attributable to poor welding and metallic fatigue. The Republic of China Armed Forces rely disproportionately closely on domestically produced tools largely attributable to difficulties importing from overseas, with the Republic of China authorities’s standing as an efficient non-state actor, as a result of worldwide group’s recognition of the rival Individuals’s Republic of China authorities primarily based in Beijing, making arms imports extremely difficult.
The Republic of China Army’s floor warfare capabilities have lengthy been thought of by far the poorest in Northeast Asia. Its armoured items are thought of successfully out of date, which is a matter that current deliveries of restricted numbers of American M1A2 Abrams tanks has solely partly mitigated. The Army deploys an estimated 250 domestically produced CM-25 and CM-32 infantry combating autos, and roughly 1300 armoured personnel carriers, round half of that are Vietnam Warfare period M113s procured from the US. The Armed Forces are comprised of roughly 170,000 energetic personnel and roughly 1,650,000 reservists, which keep restricted obligations till the age of 30.
