Although Yang Teh-chih (
A KMT member, the 62-year-old Ilan native stayed in his current position after the transfer of power in 2000 and was reappointed last February during the first Cabinet reshuffle of the DPP-led government.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
The KMT suspended Yang for violating a party policy that prohibits members from assuming political appointments in the DPP government.
The KMT has also suspended the party rights of Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) and Liu San-chi (劉三琦), head of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.
Caught between his own party and the DPP-led government, Yang has been given a hard time by the legislature.
The hike in the monthly allowance for retired veterans is a good example. While Yang wanted to increase the amount from NT$13,100 per person to NT$13,550, the DPP's tiny TSU ally opposed the plan. The TSU said the government should not favor retired soldiers over other groups, especially at a time when the nation is experiencing financial trouble.
The TSU joined forces with the DPP to boycott the proposal and the commission's annual budget. With the help of his own party and the PFP the plan was eventually approved by the legislature.
Yang, however, did not win the support of the opposition camp easily. Opposition lawmakers once called him a "KMT traitor who conspires with the DPP at the expense of the interests of veterans."
Fighting media speculation that the Cabinet would be reshuffled after the Lunar New Year, Premier Yu Shyi-kun confirmed on Saturday that Yang had expressed his desire to quit for health reasons.
Yang issued a press release later that day saying that he wanted to quit because of health problems and that he has completed the tasks to which he had been assigned.
Insisting that national stability is paramount, Yu turned down Yang's request to resign and said that he would like all government officials to stick to their post.
Although the premier refused to let Yang go, sources in the Cabinet told the Taipei Times yesterday that Yu might have to let go of Yang if the Presidential Office insists on meddling in the Cabinet's authority and forcing Yang to leave.
"As far as I know, an influential individual at the Presidential Office wants him [Yang] to go," the source said. "As Yang has already tendered his resignation, it's now up to the Presidential Office to decide whether to keep him."
The Presidential Office has been planning to let civilians, rather than soldiers, head the Veterans Affairs Commission as well as the armed forces.
Yang is a former commander of the military's combined logistics command (
Commenting on the speculation, Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), a political observer and editor in chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine, said that Chien would be a better choice.
"The government should seriously consider neutralizing the commission, which has long been manipulated by the KMT as a voting machine," Chin said.
Wu Tung-yeh (
"The DPP-led government should realize that it's the global trend to have civilians instead of soldiers lead a nation's armed forces. It may take some time to reach that goal, but it's the way to go," he said.
According to a senior defense reporter who requested anonymity, Yang's health was once a concern, but that is no longer the case.
"He is in perfect shape and still enjoys hiking and mountain climbing," he said.
Yang was hospitalized last November after receiving improper medication from a Chinese-medicine doctor for shoulder pain. The medication reportedly contained steroids.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan