The Executive Yuan announced yesterday that Chief of the General Staff General Yen Ming (嚴明) had been appointed minister of national defense, replacing Andrew Yang (楊念祖), who resigned on Tuesday night.
Yen was the first military officer to be promoted to general after President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008, the Executive Yuan said in a statement.
It said it believed Yen would be able to “gain the trust of the public” as the military’s judicial system is transferred to the civilian judiciary in the coming months.
Photo: CNA
In addition, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) announced that Deputy Defense Minister Kao Kuang-chi (高廣圻) would replace Yen as chief of the general staff.
Presiding over a meeting of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Central Standing Committee in his role as party chairman, Ma said he met with Yen and Kao yesterday morning at the Presidential Office to inform them of the nominations, and instructed them to make maintaining morale their top priority.
Yen and Kao are to take over today, he said.
“Yen will join other Cabinet members in tomorrow’s [Thursday’s] Cabinet meeting, so that national defense affairs will be running smoothly and not be affected by Yang’s resignation,” Ma said.
Meanwhile, ministry spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) denied a report that claimed Yang’s resignation was a result of a power struggle within the ministry and military.
Lo said a story in the Chinese-language China Times that claimed Yang’s resignation was a result of such a power struggle was a fabrication. He also said the newspaper story had seriously affected the military’s reputation.
The military had complained about the story, Lo said.
However, KMT lawmakers were divided on the idea of a power struggle forcing Yang’s hand.
KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said he did not think the plagiarism disclosure that led to Yang’s resignation was a result of infighting within the ministry.
“It had nothing to do with military infighting. There have been rumors [about the plagiarism] spreading online. Opposition lawmakers took advantage of the chance to go after the ministry for political gain,” Lin said.
The opposition wants to kick the “ministry’s ass” as much as it can, Lin said.
The lawmaker said it was a pity that Yang decided to resign over the plagiarism because he could have become a good civilian defense minister, given his strong academic background, years of experience, fluency in English and close relationships with top US officials.
However, KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said whoever provided Next Magazine with information about the plagiarism “had dubious motives.”
“There has been growing dissatisfaction with Yang among military officers since he was appointed as a civilian to the position they have long desired,” Lo Shu-lei said.
She said military officers who were passed over when former defense minister Kao Hua-chu (高華柱) resigned had launched a “counterattack” against Yang.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih and Rich Chang
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS