The military yesterday confirmed that Major General Hsu Wei-kuang (徐偉光), the former deputy chief of Taiwan’s military delegation to the US, failed to pass an English qualifying exam but was still assigned to serve in the post.
Hsu is currently chief of the Combined Logistic Command’s Procurement Department.
Last November, local media reported that there was infighting within the delegation, saying that the then-head of Taiwan’s military delegation to the US Tan Chih-lung (淡志隆) was unhappy with Hsu’s performance, adding that Tan had cited some 30 counts of negligence against Hsu.
Tan later confirmed the media reports and alleged that Hsu abused his position and used US$10,000 of public funds to buy gifts to cultivate personal connections, overstepped his authority and failed to follow orders.
The Ministry of National Defense immediately sent a task force to the US to probe the matter, and Hsu was sent to military prosecutors for further investigation.
Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General Yu Sy-tue (虞思祖) yesterday said Hsu did not violate the law, but investigators found that he had failed to pass an English exam to qualify for the post in the US. He scored 70, well under the pass mark of 90.
According to the military, there were three officials at the time vying for the deputy chief post in the US, and Hsu’s score in the English exam was the lowest.
Yu said while the appointment of Hsu was not entirely in line with regulations, he added that Hsu was assigned by then-defense minister Lee Tien-yu (李天羽) who was in charge of military personnel. Yu did not elaborate.
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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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching