Army Commander General Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) has been appointed the new chief of the general staff, replacing General Yen Teh-fa (嚴德發), who is to retire on Thursday next week, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
Lieutenant General Wang Shin-lung (王信龍), deputy chief of the general staff, has been named to succeed Chiu as army commander.
Chiu and Wang’s appointments are to take effect on Thursday next week, the ministry said.
The announcement came a day after the Presidential Office and the ministry declined to comment on a report in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) that Chiu had been selected for the top job.
The choice of Chiu is not without controversy, as it breaks with the tradition of having the chief of the general staff rotate between the army, navy and air force.
In addition, Chiu, 63, would have to resign in May next year when he reaches the mandatory retirement age, which would make him the shortest-serving chief of the general staff in the nation’s history, a military source said.
Chiu has served as army commander since January last year. He previously served as deputy minister of national defense, National Defense Academy president and Reserve Command commander.
Wang, 56, was born in Hualien and graduated from the nation’s military academy. He has served as administrative deputy minister of national defense and deputy chief of the general staff, and led several relief operations after natural disasters.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS