Over the past two weeks, military commanders have been striving to teach servicemen how to answer the simple question "for whom and for what should they fight?"
The answers prepared for the questions are: the servicemen should fight for the people of the country and the survival of the country.
PHOTO: SHING TING-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Simple questions and simple answers.
But what is the point of asking servicemen to answer such basic questions? Does the military leadership sense that a crisis of belief is taking hold or already ensconced?
The questions "for whom and for what should servicemen fight?" were first raised by President Chen Shui-bian (
But many servicemen, especially career officers, have become increasingly confused in recent years about what they are fighting for given that increasing numbers of Taiwanese are flocking to China seeking business opportunities, said an army colonel, who declined to be identified.
"A lot of us are unsure whether the Chinese are our friends or our enemies. This is becoming more confusing as we consider the fact that quite a few military officials in recent years have chosen to work and live in China after retirement," the colonel said.
"The transfer of power from the KMT to the DPP last year was another factor that has contributed to this crisis of belief in the military. We [the military] have condemned the promotion of Taiwanese independence by the DPP for several decades, but now they are our masters," he said.
"During the rule of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his son Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), the military knew very well for who they were fighting for -- for the nation's leader. They also knew for what they were fighting -- for the recovery of the mainland lost to the communists in the 1949 civil war," he said.
These views are not shared by Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General Huang Shui-sheng (
"We have no doubt about for whom and for what we should fight. Chief of the General Staff General Tang has been teaching this idea to servicemen since the transfer of power last year," Huang said.
Andrew Yang (楊念祖), secretary-general of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies, said there are reasons for the president and the chief of the general staff to preach the idea of for whom and for what the servicemen should fight.
"Over the past year, the political situation in the country has been unstable. This has also affected people in the military. President Chen recently highlighted the idea of for whom and for what servicemen should fight mainly to keep military personnel firm and steady in their belief in the country," Yang said.
Chang Bai-ta (
"The military used to be strongly against the idea of Taiwanese independence. If they feel they have a crisis of belief now because of the leadership of a pro-independence party, they ought to learn more about democracy," Chang said.
"In a democratic country, all sorts of opinions have to be accepted. Military education used to lack this form of democratic instruction. It is one of the reasons why some people in the military are getting confused about who and what they should fight for."
Under KMT rule, military education focused on denying even the existence of a pro-independence movement.
Some see the fact that the military has dropped Taiwanese independence as an issue of discussion is a sign that it now accepts the democratic transfer of power and has made some of the necessary changes in philosophy.
But Chang and others aren't so sure. Many still fear that military silence is merely an attempt to escape discussion of an issue with which it is deeply uncomfortable .
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