From that article:
These incongruencies — combined with one of the lowest birth rates in the world — point to a future in which fewer and fewer people will qualify as sufficiently Taiwanese while Taiwan itself remains isolated and embattled. Creativity and openness are needed instead. Revise the rules to require the descendants of ROC nationals born abroad, male and female, to perform at least a year of civil or military national service to receive a Taiwan Area Residence Card (as a stepping stone to household registration). Publicize these changes and reach out specifically to Taiwanese migrants (as opposed to all “overseas Chinese”) to encourage their children to participate. Already there are second-generation Taiwanese around the world laboring to educate our friends, classmates, co-workers, and elected officials about Taiwan and why it matters.
The suggestions here are either misguided or formerly addressed. The point is to lower, not raise, the barriers to entry. TARC status is meaningless; no one wants a passport that gets you visa-free entry to almost nowhere, and a blue card that looks and feels like an ARC and doesn’t give you any more privileges than any other foreigner. The whole point of getting TARC for most people is to get on the path of getting citizenship, and that takes a period of residency in Taiwan if done age 20 or later. If what she proposes were implemented, no one qualifying would seek this route; everyone would just enter as foreigners.
In 2004 they closed a loophole in which military service could be avoided by exiting Taiwan every 4 months. Anyone born 1985 or later becomes subject to conscription if they have been present in Taiwan for more than 183 days two calendar years after establishing household registration. Basically, if you want civic rights attached to an ID card AND to live in Taiwan before your 36th birthday, you will need to serve.
If the goal is to get people who have a genuine connection to Taiwan to settle and contribute, then this (which unfortunately got derailed by the sunflower protests) should have been passed: Lobbying legislators to pass amendments streamlining the Immigration Act