Vice Minister of National Defense Chang Liang-jen (張良任) told lawmakers yesterday that the number of high-ranking officers would likely drop when the military completes its restructuring plan.
“The appropriate number of high-ranking officers will be decided after the military restructuring,” Chang told the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee.
He was responding to a comment by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who told a Presidential Office dinner party on Wednesday that there were too many generals.
Chang told lawmakers that the ministry began plans to cut its ranks last year but has not yet finalized a plan.
“It takes a remarkable academic background, remarkable field experience and a remarkable reputation for management for an officer to become a general. It is not an easy thing,” Chang said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) suggested the committee amend the National Defense Act (國防法) and the Organic Act of the Ministry of National Defense (國防部組織法).
“We need real generals who have been through strict screening mechanisms and those who have survived and won in the battlefield,” Tsai said.
“We do not need as many 'stars' as we have now,” Tsai said.
Chang, meanwhile, said that the military would continue to be vigilant in monitoring the activities of the Chinese military, even though the Chinese Army recently decided to cancel a regular large-scale exercise in the “Nanjing Military Region.”
The drill usually simulates an attack on Taiwan.
“It is not right to say that the Chinese military has given up its designs on Taiwan just because this exercise was canceled. I certainly would not presume that,” he said. “We remain on high alert as normal.”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
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