President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is expected to announce a plan to bolster national defense at a news conference this afternoon, following a meeting with national security officials in the morning, the Presidential Office said yesterday.
This would be Tsai’s first news conference in two years.
She is widely expected to announce whether the mandatory conscription period is to be extended to one year from four months.
Photo: CNA
Tsai is to preside over a meeting of national security officials starting at 10am to discuss adjustments to bolster national defense, Presidential Office spokesman Chang Tun-han (張惇涵) said.
At noon, Tsai is scheduled to meet with Democratic Progressive Party legislators at the Taipei Guest House to discuss the new national defense plan, Chang said.
The president is then to present the plan to the public at 3:30pm and take questions from reporters, he added.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The plan and its supporting measures were drafted by the National Security Council and the Ministry of National Defense following a comprehensive two-year review of the national defense system, Chang said.
“In addition to announcing the new national defense plan to the public, we hope that political parties, civic groups, defense experts and others can engage in positive discussions over relevant issues, as we believe our common goal is to make the plan better,” he said.
Another national security meeting would soon be held to address challenges brought by international political and economic changes, Chang said, adding that Executive Yuan agencies would propose plans.
Separately yesterday, Tsai called on Taiwanese to unite to boost the nation’s security.
She made the call at a ceremony at the Ministry of National Defense headquarters to promote 28 senior military officers, including Taiwan’s first female two-star general.
Tsai thanked the officers for their tireless efforts and urged them not to become complacent, as there are many challenges facing the country.
“As we become better prepared, the chances that the aggressor might attack us diminish,” she said. “Taiwan will become stronger and safer if its people become more united.”
Eight officers were promoted to the rank of two-star general, namely lieutenant general and admiral, and 20 were promoted to the rank of one-star general, namely major general and vice admiral.
One of the newly promoted two-star generals is Chen Yu-lin (陳育琳), director of the Army Command Headquarters’ Political Warfare Department, who was promoted from major general to lieutenant general on Oct. 1.
Chen is the first woman to attain the rank of lieutenant general and the first female to lead a political warfare department in a Republic of China military command headquarters in the nation’s history.
Chen has set a number of firsts in Taiwan’s armed forces during her career. She became the first woman to be responsible for political warfare affairs at a defense command on an outlying island when she served in the Matsu Defense Command, and the first to head an army corps political warfare division with the Sixth Army Corps.
She was also the first female director at the defense ministry’s Political Warfare Cadres Academy and the first female deputy director of the ministry’s Political Warfare Bureau.
There are three other female major generals in Taiwan’s armed forces.
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