More than 20 retired generals last month traveled to China to meet with their former Chinese counterparts and current government officials, despite the Ministry of National Defense (MND) and the Vocational Assistance Commission for Retired Service’s efforts to dissuade them from taking the trip, military sources said.
Generals Cheng Ting-chung (陳廷寵) and Li Chen-lin (李楨林), and former commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Army Huang Hsing-chiang (黃幸強) led the group to attend the sixth edition of a cross-strait retired generals festival in Foshan City, Guangdong Province, the sources said.
The festival is part of a series of events marking the 90th anniversary of the Whampoa Military Academy (黃埔軍校), the Republic of China Military Academy’s predecessor.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The academy was established in 1924 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. It produced many elite military officers who fought in the eight-year Second Sino-Japanese War.
Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) re-established the academy in Greater Kaohsiung’s Fengshan District (鳳山) after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government retreated to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War.
Its alumni include former Chinese vice premier Lin Biao (林彪) and former Chinese premier Zhou Enlai (周恩來).
Photo: Lo Tien-pin, Taipei Times
Anonymous military officials said that at the festival last month, the retired generals discussed with their Chinese counterparts issues concerning a cross-strait military confidence-building mechanism.
During the talks, some members of the Taiwanese delegation said that only after such a mechanism is establish will both sides have the space in which to conduct political negotiations and perhaps sign political agreements.
The sources said that the ministry and the commission tried several times to persuade the generals to not take the trip so as to avoid making pro-unification implications.
While the groups that received the Taiwanese delegation brand themselves as civic organizations, they are supported by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and China’s United Front Work Department, the sources said.
In related developments, the ministry said it is to mark the 90th anniversary of the Whampoa Military Academy with a series of events this month and next month.
As part of the celebrations, the Republic of China Military Academy is to open its campus to the public on Friday, while the Thunder Tiger Aerobatics Team and the army’s Airborne Brigade Sky Diving Team will perform a show, the ministry said.
In addition, advanced weapon systems, including the Thunderbolt-2000 RT/LT-2000 and PAC-3 launcher system, are to be displayed at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall’s Liberty Square in Taipei on June 7, while an exhibition of historical relics and documents from the Whampoa Military Academy will be held at the Military Historical Relic Museum in Taipei on June 13, it added.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS