The commander of the Army's Matsu defense command post, Cheng De-mei (鄭德美), has been appointed to replace Chen Tien-sheng (陳添勝) as the Presidential Office’s chief of security after Chen resigned over a series of scandals involving military discipline.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said yesterday that Chen submitted his resignation to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Wednesday to take responsibility for several incidents involving national security personnel.
The Presidential Office acknowledged earlier this week that one of Ma's bodyguards had acted “inappropriately” while under the influence of alcohol when Ma visited the nation's diplomatic allies in Central America in June.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (The Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) on Monday alleged that the bodyguard had also sexually harassed a female flight attendant onboard the presidential plane.
The report added that some of Ma's senior security detail had drinking problems and that first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) had witnessed their bad behavior.
The issue of Ma’s personal safety also aroused public concern in June, when an unidentified woman walked into the Presidential Office unnoticed and wandered around for about 30 minutes before being discovered by bodyguards.
“Chen offered his resignation to take responsibility for the security personnel’s management and discipline problems. The president agreed with Chen’s decision and accepted his resignation,” Wang said.
He dismissed allegations that the Presidential Office's deputy chief of security, Hsu Yen-chin (許燕情), would also be replaced. He declined to comment on the president’s decision to replace Chen but keep Hsu.
Presidential Office Secretary-General Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) presided over the takeover ceremony at the Presidential Office later in the afternoon.
Cheng has previously served as director of Army Command Headquarters' personnel affairs division and took over as the commander of the Matsu command post in September last year.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
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