The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday denied that a military delegation to the US would be led by a lieutenant general to emphasize the importance of Taiwan-US relations, as reported by sources in Washington earlier this week.
The report said that Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) has recommended that the head of the delegation, Major General Hung Kuang-ming (洪光明), be promoted to lieutenant general.
If President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) were to approve the promotion, Hung would be the first lieutenant general to lead a Taiwanese military delegation to the US since 2008.
In 2008, the position of head of the nation’s military delegation to the US was downgraded from lieutenant general to major general, as part of military downsizing.
One of the first delegation heads of major general rank was Peng Sheng-chu (彭勝竹), who is now the director-general of the National Security Bureau.
Feng was formerly Taiwan’s military attache to the US Air Force.
National Security Bureau Director-General Peng Sheng-chu (彭勝竹) was at the time Feng’s deputy military attache.
As Feng and Peng had both been military attaches to the US Air Force, their appreciation for the importance of Taiwan-US relations played a large role in the proposal to promote the delegation’s head, the report said.
However, the military will have to promote more generals to lead its planned Information and Electronic Warfare Command, a move that might conflict with promoting the military delegation head, it said.
Moreover, Tsai would not necessarily agree to a proposal to promote Hung as the president needs to carefully navigate the military’s potentially conflicting needs, it said.
There have been many instances of internal struggles in the military delegation to the US following the decision to downgrade its head to major general.
In 2007, the Ministry of National Defense merged its US military assistance and procurement units into the military delegation.
The head of the military assistance center at the time, Major General Chen Chin-chung (陳敬忠), became the head of the military delegation, while the head of the procurement center, also a major general, became the delegation’s deputy head.
That the delegation head and deputy head are equals in rank compromised the integrity of the chain of command and became a source of friction that led to frequent changes in the delegation’s leadership.
Chen was later accused of embezzlement and recalled to Taiwan.
Tan Chih-lung (淡志隆), Chen’s successor, bickered with his deputy, Hsu Wei-kuang (徐偉光), whom he later accused of insubordination and improper use of funds.
Hsu was later court-martialed. Tan was recalled to Taiwan and his military career suffered a setback because of the episode.
Because of these conflicts, the military delegation head’s term was reduced from three years to two.
Generals who led the delegation thereafter were mostly able to complete their tours and gain promotions without incident.
Major General Li Hsien-sheng (黎賢聖) was an exception: Accused of making unauthorized contacts in the US, he was acquitted of wrongdoing, but failed polygraph tests and was discharged from the military.
When reached for comment on Thursday, an official in the Presidential Office who declined to be named confirmed that plans are in motion to reform the military delegation to the US, but the defense ministry has yet to file its proposals.
While the US will have to be informed of those changes if they ever materialize, objections from US officials regarding such matters would be uncharacteristic, the official said.
Asked whether Hung will be promoted to lieutenant general, the official said that “it is too early” to discuss personnel administration at this time.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua
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