President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday reviewed troops for the first time in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, as he presided over celebrations for the 76th anniversary of the ROC Army Academy at its Kaohsiung campus.
Honored by a 21-gun salute and a parade by more than 200 cadets, Chen seemed pleased to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors in chanting customary slogans such as "long live the Three Principles of the People," and "long live the Republic of China."
But he introduced for the first time a new slogan, "long live liberty and democracy," and discarded some old ones such as "follow the will of the government leader" and "accomplish the reunification of China," which even former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) had found himself having to chant once in a while.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Major General Kung Fan-ding (
"Every era has its own catch phrases, and there is no fixed rule on what slogans the president should use on public occasions," Kung said.
In yesterday's military review, the army presented the largest parade of troops in recent years to President Chen. In order to bring the event off without a glitch, the army had held three previews in advance and started training the cadet corps three months ago.
The Army Academy even invited the Air Force, Navy and Political Warfare Academies to send cadets to take part in the parade, which made the ceremony look more like a review for the Oct. 10 National Day than that for the Army Academy.
The huge effort exerted for this single event was widely interpreted as an expression of the army's support for Chen, following an expression by its top brass of unwillingness to serve a president with a background of support for Taiwan independence in the wake of the March 18 presidential election.
Several top-ranking military figures had, before Chen's inauguration on May 20, expressed an unwillingness to serve such a president.
In a speech delivered at the ceremony, Chen said, "I have been sending messages of goodwill to China ever since I became the 10th president of the ROC. I only hope that no war will break out between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait."
"But given that China has not renounced the possibility of the use of force against Taiwan and that it keeps increasing its military build-up, Taiwan's military has no choice but to strengthen itself in the name of deterrence," Chen said.
"We don't intend to become involved in an arms race with China," he added
Among the cadets participating in the parade were two from Taiwan's allies in Latin America -- Paraguay and Guatemala.
German Aguilera, from Paraguay, and Christian Arana, from Guatemala, both said that they were excited at being able to take part in the parade despite the rigor of the previous three-month's training.
Christian, a sophomore, said: "It is a rare experience for me. I came to study at the ROC Army Academy as an exchange student. In my home country, Guatemala, there is no military institution which can provide this kind of training.
"The three-month program was quite demanding, but now I feel a great sense of accomplishment," he said.
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