National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Der-sheng (蔡得勝) resigned yesterday citing health reasons and is to be succeeded by Deputy Ministry of National Defense Lee Hsiang-chou (李翔宙), the National Security Council said in an announcement.
The NSC statement said Tsai has been plagued by eye problems and had tendered his resignation to NSC Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) last weekend.
Despite calls by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and King to stay on in the position, the statement said that Tsai quoted his doctor as saying he needed to be treated and get some rest.
Ma accepted Tsai’s resignation and appointed him to the position of presidential national policy adviser, alongside former defense minister Kao Hua-chu (高華柱).
Tsai and Kao’s appointments will last until the end of the year, the Presidential Office said.
Meanwhile, the NSB said that Lee is “more than qualified” for his new job as he has served as deputy head of the president’s security, head of the Military Police Command, Command of Army Command Headquarters and vice chief of the General Staff.
Lee was among the 37 military officers reprimanded by the ministry over a closely watched case in July last year surrounding the death of army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘).
Hung died three days prior to finishing his military service, due to heat exhaustion allegedly caused by intensive training administered with malignant intent.
At the time of the controversy, Lee offered an apology to the public and Hung’s family and pledged to bring all responsible parties to justice.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
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