The military will remain politically neutral as the nation heads toward year-end legislative, mayoral and county commissioner elections, officials from the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
In addition, the ministry said yesterday it would severely punish service personnel who violate the principle of political neutrality in accordance with the law.
Military personnel who arefound breaking statutes on political neutrality can be given up to five years in prison.
The ministry's vow yesterday follows the approval last week of regulations governing political neutrality among service personnel during elections.
The rules were approved by Chief of the General Staff General Tang Yao-ming (
The regulations represent the first time the military has produced rules barring military personnel from political activities.
In the past, KMT-controlled governments used the military to solicit support for their candidates.
However, no formal investigation into the extent of such actions or their impact on elections has ever been conducted.
Despite the ministry's assurance yesterday, doubts still linger about whether military personnel will remain silent about the candidates they hope to see elected in December.
Major General Huang Shui-sheng (黃穗生), a spokesman for the ministry, said the military's disciplinary units would closely monitor the enforcement of the new neutrality rules across all branches of the service.
"The public might suspect that some of us will lend a helping hand to the KMT in the year-end elections, since they have the impression that most career officers have or have had KMT membership," Huang said.
"But let me tell you one fact. A lot of career officers who used to have KMT affiliations did not re-register as KMT members following the transfer of power last year."
Shortly after the inauguration of the DPP-led government, the military began the process of drafting regulations to ensure that personnel refrain from political activities.
The regulations were modelled on similar rules in effect in the US, Germany and Japan, said Major General Chen Ke-nan (陳克難), a section chief with the general political warfare department at the ministry.
"With the regulations, we can assure the public that the military will not get involved in elections as it is suspected to have done in the past," Chen said.
"It is to be made clear that the military will focus its resources on combat training in the future," he said.
Under the new regulations, military personnel are not allowed to campaign for any candidate running in the year-end elections, Chen said.
"Servicemen should avoid at the same time participating in any sort of political activities related to the elections," Chen said.
"No candidates of any party or group are to be allowed to enter military camps to engage in election-related activities."
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