In July last year, General Huang Shuguang, the former "General Chief of Staff" of the Taiwan Army, was retired from the army and was replaced by General Chen Baoyu, the commander of the army. This caused some discussion at that time. The most important point was that Chen Baoyu w

Taiwan’s legislative body passed the amendment to the “Regulations on Service of the Army, Navy and Air Force Officers” on the 5th. The maximum age for active service of the “Chief of Staff” can be approved and extended by the leaders of the Taiwan authorities, which is limited to one year. This also means that the current General Chen Baoyu, who was about to retire in May this year, can work for one more year.

Why did the Taiwan authorities "tailored" such an extended term for Chen Baoyu? Qi Fei will explain it in detail with you today.

Let’s talk about Chen Baoyu first. In July last year, General Huang Shuguang, the former "General Chief of Staff" of the Taiwan Army, was retired from the army and was replaced by General Chen Baoyu, the commander of the army. This caused some discussion at that time. The most important point was that Chen Baoyu was already 63 years old. Even according to the maximum service life, he worked for less than one year in office, which was not conducive to the stability of the military's senior management.

plus, Chen Baoyu has some negative "anecdotes". In the summer of 2019, Chen Baoyu, then commander of the Army, ordered the army officers and soldiers to stop physical examinations for one week because of concerns about the heat damage caused by high temperature. At that time, some netizens criticized Chen Baoyu as the "Strawberry Commander" on Facebook.

However, for various reasons, Tsai Ing-wen chose Chen Baoyu to take over the "Chief of the General Staff". The main reason is that the Taiwan military has a so-called "service rotation" tradition for the position of "Chief of Staff". Taking Tsai Ing-wen's tenure as an example, the previous "Chief of the General Secretary" are Army Yan Defa , Army Qiu Guozheng, Navy Li Ximing, Air Force Shen Yiming, and Navy Huang Shuguang. The first three entrants are all the navy and air force, and it is time for the army to step forward.

Moreover, Chen Baoyu's military resume is indeed very complete. He has served as the Chief of the Combat Training Department of the Army Command, Deputy Commander of the Sixth Army Corps, Commander of the Huadang Department of the Army, Deputy Commander of the Planned Office, Commander of the Tenth Army Corps, Deputy Commander of the Army Command, "Deputy Chief of Staff", and Commander of the Army. Another point is that Chen Baoyu is the first "Chief of Staff" who came from an off-island background, which seems to have a certain significance of " geopolitical ".

But the problem came soon. In May this year, Chen Baoyu, who had been the "Chief of Staff" for only 10 months, faced retirement. Although 10 months are not the shortest record of Tsai Ing-wen's tenure as the "Chief of Chief of Staff" and there is also a Qiu Guozheng who has only been in office for 5 months, it can also be said that "the butt is not hot."

Since Ma Ying-jeou was appointed as the chief of staff in 2013, after the Taiwan Army's "Chief of Staff" was revised from a four-star first-level general to a three-star second-level general, there have been seven "Chief of Chiefs" so far. Except for Shen Yiming's plane crash, the other average term of office was 16 months, which was described as "smoking sauce". "The cold stove cannot burn hot, and the bench cannot sit warm" is obviously not conducive to the stability and continuity of military policy promotion.

What is more serious is that after each "Chief of Chief of Staff" takes office, he must completely overturn the previous army's plan and start a new plan. The navy naturally has the navy first, and the air force has the first place in , and the air force has the first place in , and the army must be the leader of the army. This cycle has caused a huge waste of military resources.

is different from the romantic atmosphere of the sea and air force. The army is relatively conservative among the three armies, but it is said that Chen Baoyu has a different traditional army and is called the "army reformist faction" and has a very "progressive" concept. He actively promoted "athletes and soldiers", advocated step by step, and used scientific training to improve the physical fitness of officers and soldiers. Perhaps this is also necessary to justify the name of "Strawberry Commander".

In addition, Chen Baoyu admires the US military very much. He not only took the initiative to study the US military's physical training, but also imitated the US military to build a "joint troops battalion" during his tenure as the Army Commander. This is the latest combat organization of the Taiwan Army's ground forces, and has not been fully tested, and there is still a long way to go before it is complete. If Chen Baoyu is replaced and a "Chief of Staff" of the Navy and Air Force comes up, he may be still in the womb again.

日8

The most fundamental reason why Chen Baoyu was "tailored" to be extended for one year is that the current situation in the Taiwan Strait is too tense. Tsai Ing-wen needs to stabilize the "life-saving straw" of the Taiwan army and dare not easily change players in front of the formation.

However, in Qi Fei's view, in the face of the mainland's increasingly powerful deterrence and the firm belief in unifying the motherland, no matter who becomes the "chief of the staff" of the Taiwan Army, he may not live a better life, and he will not be able to do anything real. Cross-strait reunification is a historical trend, and it cannot be stopped by just a few "athletes and soldiers" or "joint troops battalions"!