Amid media speculation that they were to be appointed vice ministers of defense, a Control Yuan member and the commander-in-chief of the air force yesterday told journalists that they had indeed been named to take the posts.
The appointments will not be officially announced until Feb 1.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
Control Yuan member Kang Ning-hsiang (
The second vice minister post, which will not formally exist until March when the Defense Organization Law (
The new law separates responsibility for arms purchases from other military affairs to avoid possible abuses.
Asked by journalists whether he was to take the first of the two posts, Kang said: "The president has been generous enough to promise to allow me to finish the cases I am investigating in the Control Yuan before I take up my new job."
A number of important cases in the Control Yuan are under investigation by teams led by Kang, including the Lafayette frigate scandal.
The fact that Kang does not have a military background has prompted media speculation that his appointment heralds the ultimate realization of President Chen Shui-bian's (
It is speculated that, once Kang has completed a stint as a vice minister of defense, he will be a strong candidate for promotion as minister of defense.
Kang, who graduated from National Chung Hsing University with a bachelor's degree in public administration in 1961, is an experienced public servant.
He has been a Taipei City Council member for three years, a lawmaker for 19 years, a National Assembly member for three years and a Control Yuan member for nine years.
Kang's positions in the Legislative Yuan and Control Yuan gave him plenty of experience on military matters and brought him into close contact with military personnel.
Media speculation has suggested that he may also owe his appointment to the fact that he enjoys good relations with the US. He has made several trips to the US and developed relations with influential figures, including congressmen.
General Chen, whose term as commander-in-chief of the air force will end at the end of February, is a long-standing, experienced and highly qualified air force officer.
Chen is also widely known to have good relations with the US, a factor which some in the media have speculated made him a more likely choice for minister of defense than the eventual appointee, General Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明), because the US was thought to object to the latter's personal style and his leadership of the armed forces.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS