Former minister of national defense Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) has been appointed Veterans Affairs Council minister, Cabinet spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka announced yesterday.
Feng fills the vacancy left by Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正), Kolas said.
Chiu was appointed National Security Bureau (NSB) director-general following former bureau head Peng Sheng-chu’s (彭勝竹) resignation last month over a cigarette smuggling scandal.
Several bureau officials have been accused of trying to smuggle more than 10,000 cartons of cigarettes into Taiwan as President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) returned home from an overseas state visit on July 22.
Feng is the chairman of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, the nation’s first defense think tank, and served as minister of national defense from 2016 to last year.
Feng is a retired lieutenant general and a decorated officer who has served in top posts in the military, including deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and commander of the Air Force Combatant Command.
He was also chairman of the Aerospace Industrial Development Corp from 2006 to 2008.
Feng is equally familiar with the defense industry and defense technology, Kolas said.
Also, he is adept at business management and has experience promoting international military exchanges, she said, adding that the government hopes he will help enhance international military and veterans’ exchanges.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
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