The military’s Chief of General Staff Admiral Kao Kuang-chi (高廣圻) is to replace Minister of National Defense Yen Ming (嚴明), who resigned yesterday.
Yen tendered his resignation to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), citing personal and professional issues, according to the Presidential Office.
The office said that Yen would become a national policy adviser.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The new appointment is scheduled to take effect on Friday, the Presidential Office added.
Yen was quoted by Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) as saying that he had completed his mission and that he wanted to resign from the position to promote younger leadership in the army’s management.
“The minister has expressed many times to the president his intention to step down,” Lo said.
The nation’s military preparedness will continue unabated under Kao’s leadership, Lo added.
“There will not be any concerns or problems regarding the promotion of defense policy,” Lo said of the change.
Kao is a long-time officer who has served in the ministry’s strategic planning and armaments departments. He was also a navy commander.
Kao’s complete resume won him Ma’s approval for the position, the Presidential Office said.
Pundits said that the defense minister’s responsibility to report to the legislature should not be new to Kao, as he has dealt with lawmakers and the media on various major issues, including arms purchases and the ministry’s institutional rearrangement, adding that he had made a profound impression on many legislators.
General Yen De-fa (嚴德發), who established himself in rescue operations following Typhoon Morakot in 2009, is to succeed 63-year-old Kao.
Deputy Minister of Defense General Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) is to succeed Yen as admiral, and Republic of China Air Force Commander Liu Chen-wu (劉震武) is to be the new Deputy Minister of National Defense, the ministry said in a statement. Administrative Deputy Minister of Defense Lieutenant General Shen Yi-ming (沈一鳴) was promoted to the rank of general and named the new air force admiral.
Lo said that the shuffle would not affect the ministry’s operations, as all the officials are familiar with their duties.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS