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US Navy chooses Taiwan-born officer as spokesperson for Pacific Command

A Taiwan-born American naval officer will become a spokeswoman for the US Pacific Command starting in July, military sources announced on Friday.

Jensin W. Sommer (翁正欣), was born in Yunlin County and moved to the US with her family at the age of seven.

She said in an interview that she will be very pleased to take her new assignment in Hawaii next month.

"Hawaii is closer to Taiwan, where I still have many relatives," said Sommer, who is now a naval press officer at the US Department of Defense.

Sommer graduated from the US Naval Academy 10 years ago and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander on Friday.

She also just received a master's degree in political science from a Catholic university in Washington, DC earlier this week.

Sommer's father, Weng Yi-hsiung (翁義雄), recalled that he and his wife often used to take their daughter to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland for pleasure trips on holidays during her childhood.

"Jensin was always impressed by the brilliance and smartness of the white uniforms of the female cadets.

"This might be a reason behind her decision to pursue a military career," said Weng, who works for the public health department of the Maryland State Government.

Weng originally took part in a US Navy-sponsored subtropical disease research program in Taiwan.

In 1976, he went to the US for advanced study on a US Navy scholarship and later obtained US residency.

Sommer said she was lucky to have grown up in the US, adding that she chose a military career partly out of her wish to contribute to the country.

Her husband is also a naval academy graduate.

She further said she has fond memories of her childhood in Taiwan and that part of her mind and heart "will be left in Taiwan" forever.

Sommer said she is always very happy whenever she reads or hears of information about Taiwan.

"I also take pride in Taiwan's progress in various fields in recent years," she added.

In the future, she said she hopes she can do something to help boost Taiwan-US relations.

She last visited her Taiwan relatives in 1994.

While Sommer was studying at the US Naval Academy, she and several of her classmates also once paid a visit to Taiwan which was arranged by Taiwan's naval authorities.
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