The Ministry of National Defense pledged to continue its new policy of having high-ranking military officials go on TV talk shows to promote the military's NT$610 billion arms procurement project, saying this will help the public understand the military and not be misled by opposition politicians.
"We must act in accordance with public opinion and seek the public's support ourselves," said spokesman Major General Huang Suey-sheng (黃穗生) during the weekly ministry press conference on Tuesday.
"Many legislators have encour-aged us to maintain this policy and arrange for more generals to talk with the media," he said.
The ministry sent three outspoken generals to appear on a political talk show at state-run Chinese Television System on Aug. 22.
The trio discussed the military's strategy and capabilities for coping with a possible invasion by China
Lieutenant-General Chi Lin-lien (季麟連), director of the Office of Joint Operations, Training, Doctrine and Development, and Lieutenant General Lei Kuang-dan (雷光旦), commander of the 6th Field Corps, both said the military could withstand an attack for 150 days.
Some opposition lawmakers have accused the ministry of trying to launch a "media offensive."
Huang, however, said that the ministry's policy will continue, adding that some defense experts and "famous commentators" have made ambiguous or groundless remarks, misleading the public about military-related issues.
"The military must shed its mysterious image. It received a positive reaction from the public after our top-ranking generals explained their experience and training," he said.
Since the start of the new legislative session earlier this month, Minister of National Defense Li Chieh (李傑) has personally taken on the task of communicating with opposition legislators. He also approved of his staff's suggestion to arrange for more generals to appear on cable-TV talk shows.
"The people of this country are the real masters of the legislators. We think that the more efforts we make to win the people's trust and understanding, the more support we will gain in the Legislative Yuan," Huang said.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
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.
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
‘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