President Chen Shui-bian (
The promotion was the first of its kind to be held in the middle of the year, breaking a decades-old custom of having the ceremony take place at the beginning of each year.
From this year onward, promotion of top-level military officials will happen twice a year, on July 1 and on Jan. 1. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said this is to shorten the time a military leader has to wait before he is promoted.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Yesterday's promotion highlighted the advancement of 15 military officials of ethnic Taiwanese origin to the ranks of lieutenant general/vice admiral or major general/rear admiral.
Minister of National Defense Wu Shih-wen (
Ethnic Taiwanese military leaders accounted for one-quarter of all the generals on the promotion list, the highest-percentage ever.
Defense officials said it was Chief of the General Staff (CGS) General Tang Yao-ming (
Tang, also an ethnic Taiwanese, is the first Taiwanese to take the CGS post, which used to be occupied solely by mainlanders.
The trend to actively promote Taiwanese generals began with former President Lee Teng-hui (
But given that ethnic Taiwanese only account for a small portion of all career officers in comparison to mainlanders, an over-emphasis upon the promotion of Taiwanese generals may be counter-productive in the long run, defense officials added.
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