Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (
Tang, speaking to 41 military officials who were promoted to one- and two-star generals yesterday, said: "You should do more reading and develop self-discipline so that you can win the respect of your subordinates."
"As two famous Chinese generals from the Qing dynasty said, `A general with the ability to lead is the key to the strength of an army,'" Tang said.
"There are incompetent generals but there have never been incompetent soldiers," he said.
Tang was quoting from a book on military leadership, which was based on words left by two renowned Qing dynasty generals, Tseng Kuo-fan (曾國籓) and Hu Lin-yi (胡林翼). The book is a must-read for every military official taking advanced courses at the National Defense University.
Quoting further from the two generals, Tang warned that among the many generals in the military, there might be quite a number of incompetent ones.
Tang said reading books and self-discipline might help generals who struggle to win respect from their subordinates, even though they have stars on their shoulders.
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) also attended the ceremony.
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