Chief of the General Staff General Tang Yao-ming (
"Military personnel will not be allowed to participate in political activities related to the year-end elections. No candidates shall be allowed to enter military camps, either," General Tang said. "The military shall maintain a strictly neutral role in the lead-up to the year-end elections."
Tang made the remarks yesterday as he inspected the navy's general headquarters in Taipei's suburban Tachih district.
Tang's comments garnered wide attention because media observers believe this year's electoral cycle to be a test case for the military in terms of its avowed political neutrality.
When the KMT ruled the nation, the military was often criticized for being overly involved on behalf of ruling party candidates.
A veteran lieutenant colonel who in the past was involved in political warfare, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in the past there were three major political campaign sections in the military.
"The three major campaign divisions included the political warfare system, the Veterans Affairs Commission (VAC) and the armed forces reserve command," the official said.
"The political warfare system was responsible for digging up the political backgrounds of conscripts. This job was carried out by the political warfare chief of each [military] unit. There was no need to check the political backgrounds of professional servicemen, since most of them were KMT members," the official said.
After checking the political backgrounds of each conscript, the official said, political warfare chiefs in each unit would talk with KMT supporters to strengthen their commitment.
The second major campaign-related section in the military was the VAC, which used front organizations called Huang Fu-hsing (黃復興) to influence elections.
VAC directors used to head Huang Fu-hsing organizations, but the practice stopped following the change in government last year.
"The VAC claims to have cut off its relations with the Huang Fu-hsing following the change of government. But strong ties between the two still exist and cannot be completely cut off," the lieutenant colonel said.
The third and most powerful campaign section in the military was the armed forces reserve command, which handles the recall, when necessary, of all reserve soldiers.
"The armed forces reserve command used to assign at least one officer to each reserve soldier help center in local townships. The officer maintained close contact with all reserve soldiers in his area. He could use his influence over the reserve soldiers to persuade them to support the KMT during elections," the lieutenant colonel said.
"The practice has now stopped. But who knows whether the DPP-led government will seek to re-start the old practice? It was a very effective campaign practice. It was also a good way to forecast votes before elections since the officer residing in each locality knew very well who supported which party."
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