The top hierarchy at the Ministry of National Defense is undergoing a big shake-up, with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said to be closely involved in the changes and promotions at the highest levels of the nation’s armed forces.
Local media reports said that Minister of National Defense Yen Ming (嚴明) has already tendered his resignation to the president, with his post likely to be filled by Chief of General Staff Admiral Kao Kuang-chi (高廣圻).
Kao had previously served as deputy minister of defense, and his post is expected to be filled by Army Commander General Yen Teh-fa (嚴德發).
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Deputy Minister of National Defense General Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) is expected to take over the post of army commander.
According to the Chinese-
language United Evening News and online news agency Storm Media, while Yen Ming has tendered his resignation, the president has urged him to stay on for the time being. However, if he sticks to his decision to leave, top hierarchy changes at the ministry could be imminent — as early as within the next few weeks.
Military sources said that Ma had asked Yen Ming to remain in his post at least until the end of March, when Kao is scheduled to retire from active service in the navy and would then be ready to take over as head of the defense ministry.
Rumors of Yen Ming’s possible resignation were rife among senior military officials over the past two weeks. His resignation and subsequent personnel appointments are widely perceived to be calculated moves by Ma to retain control over the armed forces by installing men from his personal sphere of influence into senior posts.
Kao is the younger brother of Kao Lang (高朗), who was a top aide to Ma and had served as Presidential Office deputy secretary-general.
Other likely forthcoming appointments to senior ministry positions were reportedly men who had gained the president’s personal trust and were selected by Ma, in a bid by the highly unpopular, lame-duck president to continue influencing policies and decisionmaking in the military.
The government issued a public statement on Dec. 30 denying that Yen Ming had tendered his resignation.
The ministry also released a statement yesterday saying that the latest reports about Yen Ming’s position were speculation and had no factual basis.
However, political pundits said the government’s denial is a stalling tactic to keep media from reporting on the matter and to prevent the public from being informed on behind-the-scenes political machinations by Ma.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
FIRST TRIAL: Ko’s lawyers sought reduced bail and other concessions, as did other defendants, but the bail judge denied their requests, citing the severity of the sentences Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Taipei prosecutors in December last year asked the Taipei District Court for a combined 28-year, six-month sentence for the four cases against Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The cases were linked to the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project and the mismanagement of political donations. Other defendants convicted on separate charges included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was handed a 15-year, six-month sentence; Core Pacific
RSS