Legislators back civilian as defense head

Legislators from the ruling and opposition parties were mostly supportive yesterday of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) idea of choosing a civilian to serve as the next defense minister, although they were at odds over the definition of a civilian.

Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯), legislative whip of the ruling DPP, when he received former US defense secretary William Cohen a day earlier, voiced his support for the president, who said that the head of national defense should be a civilian.

The president also revealed in his book The Premiere Voyage of the Century, which hit bookstores Thursday, that he plans a major reshuffle of the military next year.

The president's remarks sparked speculation about the future of Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明), chief of the general staff, who had earlier been tapped to serve as minister of national defense.

Tsai stressed that the term "civilian" does not include servicemen discharged from the army. Saying that the DPP had advocated a civilian serving as national-defense chief even before it became the ruling party, he noted that there are many such examples in democratic countries.

Tsai noted that all democratic countries have stipulated that military personnel should not interfere with politics and that after the military command and administration becomes unified under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Defense next year, it will be more suitable for civilians to serve as defense head.

But DPP legislator Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) said the term "civilian" could also include military personnel not on active duty.