The military should distance itself from its Whampoa Military Academy roots and create a culture that is uniquely local, the Taiwan Statebuilding Party said yesterday.
The comments came after groups of retired soldiers recently mobilized former Whampoa members to attend the 99th anniversary of the academy’s founding in China.
The Whampoa Military Academy, founded by Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) in 1924, was a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) military academy before it was converted to a national academy in 1927. It was renamed the Republic of China Military Academy in 1946, symbolizing the nationalization of the army.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
At an event in Kaohsiung’s Fongshan District (鳳山), the party said there had been about 222 incidents involving selling information or spying for the Chinese Communist Party (CPP) between 2015 and 2020, many of which were conducted by retired military personnel calling in previous contacts in the military.
The party’s Chiayi chapter director Weng Huan-yao (翁渙瑤) said he was a student at the Republic of China Military Academy, and said that he was “baffled” by how everything about the academy, based in Kaohsiung, referenced Whampoa in Guangzhou, China.
Weng said many of his seniors had been seen at events hosted by China, making him question whether this was the “Whampoa spirit,” adding that he felt that the military should “liberate [itself] from Whampoa, and leave it in China.”
The Whampoa academy was funded by the former USSR, and was the product of the first collaboration between the KMT and the CCP from 1923 to 1927, the party’s Taipei chapter director Wu Hsin-tai (吳欣岱) said.
After the Nationalist-Communist split, the CCP continued to refer to the “spirit of Whampoa,” subverting the national identity of the Taiwanese military, Wu said, adding that the military should ditch “Whampoa” and create an army that belongs to Taiwan.
Historically, Whampoa has no ties with Taiwan, and the pro-China rhetoric of the “Whampoa spirit” easily creates cognitive dissonance among troops, party Chairman Wang Hsing-huan (王興煥) said.
Wang urged the military to distance itself from its Whampoa past, to remove references to the academy, to focus on the history of military academies in Taiwan and use local names for divisions.
The military must have a “Taiwan spirit” and enhance values such as duty, honor and loyalty to the country, Wang said.
Taiwan's Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said Saturday that she would not be intimidated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), following reports that Chinese agents planned to ram her car during a visit to the Czech Republic last year. "I had a great visit to Prague & thank the Czech authorities for their hospitality & ensuring my safety," Hsiao said on social media platform X. "The CCP's unlawful activities will NOT intimidate me from voicing Taiwan's interests in the international community," she wrote. Hsiao visited the Czech Republic on March 18 last year as vice president-elect and met with Czech Senate leadership, including
There have been clear signs of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attempts to interfere in the nationwide recall vote on July 26 in support of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators facing recall, an unnamed government official said, warning about possible further actions. The CCP is actively involved in Taiwanese politics, and interference in the recall vote is to be expected, with multiple Chinese state media and TAO attempts to discredit the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and undermine public support of their recall movement, the official said. This interference includes a smear campaign initiated this month by a pro-Beijing Hong Kong news outlet against
A week-long exhibition on modern Tibetan history and the Dalai Lama’s global advocacy opened yesterday in Taipei, featuring quotes and artworks highlighting human rights and China’s ongoing repression of Tibetans, Hong Kongers and Uighurs. The exhibition, the first organized by the Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan (HRNTT), is titled “From the Snowy Ridges to the Ocean of Wisdom.” “It would be impossible for Tibetans inside Tibet to hold an exhibition like this — we can do it. because we live in a free and democratic country,” HRNTT secretary-general Tashi Tsering said. Tashi Tsering, a Taiwan-based Tibetan who has never
A first shipment of five tons of Taiwan tilapia was sent from Tainan to Singapore on Wednesday, following an order valued at NT$600,000 (US$20,500) placed with a company in the city. The products, including frozen whole fish and pre- cooked fish belly, were dispatched from Jiangjun Fishing Harbor, where a new aquatic processing and logistics center is under construction. At the launch, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) called the move a “breakthrough,” marking Taiwan’s expansion into the Singaporean tilapia market. Taiwan’s tilapia exports have traditionally focused on the United States, Canada, and the Middle East, Huang said, adding that the new foothold in
RSS