Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) yesterday dismissed rumors that he had offered to resign in March over frustrations that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had usurped his power to decide military positions.
"I'll continue to do my duty since everything is going as planned," Tang said.
"I don't know where the rumors came from and I'd like to make one thing straight here -- I'll stay on at my post and continue to make my contribution to the country until the premier tells me otherwise," he said.
Tang, speaking yesterday morning in the legislature, made the remarks in response to questions filed by KMT Legislator Huang The-fu (
Huang alleged that Tang tendered his resignation to Chen on March 7, the day Premier Yu Shyi-kun and Tang proposed to the president that the government should offer a NT$100 million reward to anyone offering information leading to the resolution of the long-running Lafayette-frigate scandal.
Questioning Tang, Huang said, "As far as I know, you didn't go there to discuss the matter but instead you went there to tender your resignation."
Tang wanted to quit, Huang said, because many military officials were bypassing Tang and going directly to the president when seeking promotion.
Flatly denying the allegation, Tang said that he did visit Chen in March but that he did not go there to tender his resignation.
"I went to discuss with him the NT$100 million reward, nothing more," Tang said.
Yu also painted Huang's allegation as "groundless" and said that if Tang had intended to quit then the defense minister would have tendered his resignation to him as he is Tang's direct superior.
"As the nation's highest administrative officer, I'm guaranteed by the Constitution to decide the Cabinet line-up, including military appointments," Yu said.
Tang, however, confirmed that he did offer his resignation to Yu at the beginning of this year -- his first year in the job.
Tang's remarks echoed a statement Yu made in January during a two-day visit to disaster-hit areas in Nantou County when the premier confirmed that Tang had offered to resign twice in the preceding five months.
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