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MND reshuffles its senior posts after defection snafu

Defector's trail * Wang Yi-hung, who was the political warfare chief of the army's 34th Hawk missile company based in Hualien, flew to China on Oct. 7 from Thailand with his wife and baby girl. * Taiwan has asked China to return the defector. * The Control Yuan has censured both the defense ministry and immigration bureau over the case.

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) reshuffled its senior political warfare personnel yesterday after an army officer at a missile command in eastern Taiwan defected to China.

According to a ministry press release, Lieutenant General Hsu Su-ching (許思敬), who originally headed the political warfare department at the Army General Headquarters, will from now on serve as president of Fu Hsing Kang College (FHKC), which is dedicated to training political warfare officers.

Hsu was handed a demerit over the recent defection of Wang Yi-hung (王宜宏), a lieutenant in charge of political warfare operations at the Hualien missile command.

Local reporters had earlier speculated that Hsu's military career would end in the wake of Wang's defection to China via Thailand in October.

Unexpectedly, however, Hsu was promoted to the FHKC presidency -- which is basically just an honorary post.

The MND news release further announced that former FHKC President Lieutenant General Chang Li-feng (張立峰) will succeed Chen Hsing-kuo (陳興國) as deputy director and executive officer of the ministry's Political Warfare Bureau. Chen retired in September.

Meanwhile, Major General Lin Chia-hsiung (林家雄), director of the ministry's welfare department, will fill the vacancy left by Hsu. Lin is widely recognized as an outstanding business manager because of his work at the welfare department and his promotion to the army's political warfare leadership post is a sign of his superiors' recognition of his management expertise, according to observers.

General Teng Chu-lin (鄧祖琳), director of the Political Warfare Bureau, first presided over new FHKC president Lieutenant General Hsu Su-ching's swearing-in ceremony at Fu Hsing Kang College in Peitou.

He then returned to swear in the bureau's new deputy director and executive officer, Lieutenant General Chang Li-feng.

The army's new political warfare department chief Major General Lin Chia-hsiung's swearing-in ceremony was presided over by Army Commander-in-Chief General Huo Shoou-yeh (霍守業) at the Tahan military base in Taoyuan.

Lin will be promoted to lieutenant general at the beginning of next year, the ministry added in its press release.
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