President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday introduced a new slogan, "Long Live Taiwan People," to the military as he presided over a ceremony at the army academy in Kaohsuing, marking the end of seven weeks of basic training for freshmen of all the nation's military academies.
"Long Live Taiwan People" is a slogan completely new to the military, which never before had anything similar in its inventory of slogans.
It is the first time that "Taiwan" has been part of a slogan that the president will chant at military ceremonies.
In the past, slogans touched only on themes such as "Republic of China," "Three Principles of the People" and "Reunification with China."
Three years ago, when Chen attended a military ceremony for the first time in his capacity as the president, he came up with the slogan of "Long Live Liberty and Democracy!" to the surprise of most people present.
It grabbed the attention of the press at the time, as never before had a president changed military slogans that had been in use for decades.
Chen gave the military another big surprise yesterday when he shouted "Long Live Taiwan People!" toward the end of the closing ceremony.
Apparently not notified in advance of the change in slogans, the cadets, who were ready to follow Chen's chant, hesitated for a few seconds before they followed suit.
An official with the Ministry of National Defense, who attended the ceremony, said the ministry has no comment about the new slogan, since it is the president's right to choose a slogan best suited to the occasion.
As Chen's new slogan stole the limelight, the real focus of the event was almost forgotten.
The military wanted to call attention to the fact that its academies this year recruited the highest-ever number of "high-quality" students, referring to students who achieved high scores in the joint-college examination.
In the past, only those who failed or performed poorly in the joint-college examination chose to study at military academies.
But over the past few years, the trend has been reversed, with a lot of high scorers in the examination clamoring to register at military academies.
This development reached a peak this year, as highlighted by the case of a young woman who elected to study at the National Defense Management College, despite getting scores high enough to enter the law department at National Taiwan University.
Now Chang Yin-hua (張潁華), has passed the seven-week basic training course at the army academy and is ready to embark on her career in the military.
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