Chief of the General Staff General Tang Yao-ming (
The KMT on Monday announced plans to discipline him for not asking for party approval for his intention to join the DPP-led Cabinet.
Tang said he would not consider withdrawing from the KMT despite the party's declaration that any member who joins the new Cabinet without party consent would be expelled, the Ministry of National Defense said.
"Tang has been a KMT member for more than four decades. He has chosen to accept the defense minister's post not out of political considerations, but out of a desire to serve his country," ministry spokesman Major General Huang Sui-sheng (
"Tang believes that the KMT will understand and support his decision. He stresses that he would never consider withdrawing from the KMT," Huang said yesterday.
An official with the defense ministry's spokesman's office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said asking General Tang to give up his decades-old membership of the KMT was unreasonable.
"As we know, General Tang agreed to become the next defense minister out of a desire to serve his country ... He has not violated KMT rules in joining the Cabinet, as a serviceman's top priority is his allegiance to the nation," the official said.
"To be the defense minister, Tang must give up the title of general first-class, which would otherwise stay with him for the rest of his life. This is a great sacrifice for Tang as a serviceman," he said.
The title is given only to a general who has served as the chief of the general staff, the military's highest post.
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