The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it would not authorize retired generals to conduct military negotiations or military exchanges with their Chinese counterparts amid US concerns that former senior members of the armed forces were paying frequent visits to China.
The Chinese-language China Times yesterday said the US had asked Taiwan’s representative to Washington, Jason Yuan (袁健生), to explain the close exchanges between retired Taiwanese generals and Chinese military officials. The report said the US was concerned that Taiwan may be conducting military negotiations or exchanges through the retired military officials, thus bypassing the US.
Washington was also concerned about the possibility of military secrets being leaked, the report said.
“It is understandable for the United States to voice concerns, given the rapidly improving ties between Taipei and Beijing,” Chen Wen-yi (陳文義), deputy chief of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ North American Affairs Department, told AFP.
In April, more than 20 retired generals, led by retired generals Hsu Li-nong (許歷農) and Cheng Ting-chung (陳廷寵), visited retired Chinese generals and government officials, one of many such visits in the past two years.
Hsu said publicly that the visit was to promote a military confidence-building mechanism.
In May, 27 retired generals went to China to play golf with Chinese counterparts, while more than 20 retired generals are currently on a visit to Nanjing.
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday would not comment on Washington’s concerns, adding that cross-strait negotiations were currently focused on economics, with no political or military talks in the pipeline.
The ministry said it had never authorized retired military personnel to promote confidence-building mechanisms with Chinese officials, adding that while it generally prohibited retired generals from going to China, in the past two years some had managed to circumvent the restrictions.
It called on retired military personnel to refrain from such visits.
Asked for comment, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) of the Foreign and National Defense Committee said the government was not ready to negotiate confidence-building mechanisms with Beijing.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG AND AFP
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