The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday announced that General Chen Pan-chih (陳邦治) will take over as commander-in-chief of the navy while defense ministry Vice Minister Hu Chen-pu (胡鎮埔) will take over Chen's job as director-general of the political warfare department.
"Both Chen and Hu's new assignments will become effective on Feb. 1. In the meantime, Lieutenant General Hu will be promoted to general at the same time," read a press release by the MND.
Chen is the first marine ever to take the post as commander-in-chief of the navy. Prior to yesterday's announcement, rumors of Chen's new post were refuted by several high-ranking navy officers because many said they believed a marine was not fit for the duties of a sailor.
Chen was supposed to be a naval engineer after he graduated from the Navy Academy with a bachelor's degree in Engineering in 1966. However, he decided to serve in the marines instead.
Hu has been in armor ever since he graduated from the Army Academy in 1971. Hu started out as a low-ranking officer and worked in many different posts prior to joining the MND.
After Hu takes the control of the political warfare department under Feb. 1, he will be responsible for the military's public relations, promotions and propaganda related activities.
Chen and Hu were President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) favorites and were promoted because both had been instrumental in supporting Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (
As a result of his experience, Hu was the military's chief negotiator while seeking approval from lawmakers for the arms budget.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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