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Taiwan has moved to tighten conscription rules after a string of high-profile cases involving celebrities and young men who falsified their medical records to evade mandatory military service.

In addition, the proposed changes would also mandate alternative service for transgender and intersex people, a move that has sparked backlash from rights groups and other members of the public.

The island’s defence ministry on Monday unveiled a draft amendment to its physical classification standards, overhauling eligibility for exemption, alternative service and regular service in what officials described as a bid to close long-standing loopholes and restore fairness to the draft system.

If the revisions pending approval by the legislature are adopted, the exemption criteria would be sharply narrowed.

Only individuals with a body mass index (BMI) above 45 or a height of 144cm (4 feet 7 inches) or below would qualify for exemption. Previously, exemptions were given to men with a BMI above 35 or extreme height measurements.

For a man standing 170cm tall, the new rules would raise the exemption weight threshold from just over 101kg (222lbs) to 130kg.

Taiwan officials say they seek to close long-standing loopholes in the draft system and restore fairness. Photo: AFP

The changes follow a string of draft-dodging scandals earlier this year involving entertainers accused of fabricating medical records – including false hypertension diagnoses – to avoid compulsory service. The cases fuelled public anger and renewed scrutiny of Taiwan’s conscription system.

Prosecutors have so far indicted at least 40 people, including 18 entertainers and 18 other young men.

Taiwan raised the compulsory service period for men from four months to one year as of January 1 last year.

A central feature of the draft is the formal division of alternative service into grade A and grade B categories, reflecting what Taiwan’s defence ministry said were wide variations in workload and physical demands across different placements.

Under the revised framework, many conditions that previously qualified for full exemption would instead be channelled into alternative service, which still includes an initial period of military-style training before assignment to civilian units.

Flat feet – long regarded as a common route to exemption – would no longer qualify. And those with high foot arches would instead be required to perform grade A alternative service, while more severe foot deformities would fall under grade B, which generally entails less physically demanding assignments.

Hypertension criteria would also be tightened. Only moderate or severe hypertension accompanied by confirmed organ damage – such as heart, kidney or peripheral vascular disease – would qualify for exemption.

Those with hypertension but no organ damage would be assigned to alternative service. This assignment would require mandatory hospitalisation of one to three days for 24-hour continuous blood pressure monitoring aimed at preventing test manipulation.

Among the most contentious changes is the reclassification of transgender and intersex individuals – including people with both male and female sexual characteristics or abnormal sex chromosomes – from exemption to alternative service.

The proposed change has sparked fierce criticism online and from advocacy groups, who argue the system is unprepared to accommodate gender diversity.

“We recognise the government’s concerns over national security and fairness,” the Intersex, Transgender and Transsexual People Care Association said. But it warned that alternative service environments remained a “major unknown” for transgender and intersex people.

Although alternative service duties are largely civilian, the group said the initial training phase still happened in military-style settings, raising concerns over whether gender-friendly facilities, trained personnel and necessary medical support, such as access to hormone therapy, would be in place.

“Until appropriate personnel, environments and gender-awareness measures are fully implemented, we do not recommend hastily including transgender and intersex people within alternative service classifications,” the group said in a statement.

Some critics online accused the government of discrimination and warned that the changes risked forcing people unfit for service into alternative roles without adequate safeguards.

“Boycott this unjust law!” one wrote, while another asked, “Is this really about defending Taiwan or about wasting time?”

Local opinion polls have suggested that many young people in Taiwan are sceptical about the extension of compulsory military service from four months to one year, with more than half saying they did not believe war to be likely and would be unwilling to sacrifice their lives to defend the island.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-ruled island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.

Taiwan’s defence ministry has defended the overhaul as a necessary response to medical advances and long-standing inequities in the draft system.

Ministry officials noted that Taiwan’s exemption rate of about 16 per cent of conscripts was significantly higher than the rates of conscription-based militaries such as those of South Korea and Singapore.

With many conditions now treatable or controllable, the ministry said, a “comprehensive review is needed” to ensure fairness and align with the island’s defence policy.

Chieh Chung, an assistant professor of international relations and strategic studies at Tamkang University in New Taipei City, said with compulsory service reinstated and extended, pressure had intensified to close loopholes that allowed draft evasion.

“At a time when one-year conscription has returned, making the standards stricter is a political response to society’s demand for greater fairness,” he said.