Military pledges loyalty to new leader

Responding to yesterday's election victory by DPP candidate Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Chief of the General Staff Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) pledged the military's continued loyalty to the new president-elect.

"According to Article 138 of the Constitution, the armed forces should be loyal to the country and protect the people. Article 36 stipulates the president is the supreme commander of the armed forces," Tang said.

"The armed forces should therefore abide by the Constitution and be loyal to the leader of the country. I hereby announce on behalf of the armed forces that the military will be loyal to the new supreme commander of the country," he said.

Taiwan's military was placed on alert before the vote, but officials said on Friday that they had detected no unusual moves by China to indicate a military response to the election was forthcoming.

Tang's pledge of loyalty to the president-elect was seen as prudent and a reassuring gesture since the mainlander-dominated military leadership does not agree with Chen's pro-independence stance.

It also follows remarks by Minister of National Defense Tang Fei (唐飛) on Friday as he campaigned for Vice President and KMT presidential candidate Lien Chan (連戰), when he suggested voters should not support a pro-independence candidate.

Former defense minister Chiang Chung-ling (蔣仲苓) declared in 1996 -- before the first presidential election -- that the military would not support any moves toward independence.

He had added, however, that the military would support any president as long as he was popularly elected.

According to a local newspaper, Minister Tang told a KMT rally for Lien on Friday that if Chen was elected, he thought China would ratchet up tensions across the Taiwan Strait in a bid to force Chen to yield to its demands.

Su Chin-chiang (蘇進強), a military analyst at Nanhua University, said he did not think cross-strait tensions would escalate because of Chen's win.

"The cross-strait situation will not see any big change in one year. Beijing will try to watch political developments in Taiwan during the first year of Chen's presidency," Su said.

"Chen's pro-independence colors do arouse some doubt within the military, especially the veterans who retreated with the KMT government to Taiwan in 1949," he said.

"But the impact might not as big as expected, since the military has now stopped condemning the Taiwan independence movement in its political education courses for servicemen," he said.

"We might say the military has made itself ready for the change in political development," he added.

Su said he does not believe Chen will announce independence for Taiwan after he becomes president, but he added that it will take some time for Chen to win the confidence of servicemen.

Meanwhile, military spokes-man Major General Kung Fan-ding (孔繁定) explained why it was the chief of the general staff, rather than the minister, who declared the military's loyalty.

"According to the newly enforced National Defense Law, the chief of the general staff is the chief staff officer to the defense minister. But what General Tang announced today was just a repetition of what Minister Tang had said before the election," Kung said.