Thu, Jun 15, 2000 page4

• Taiwan's long line of defense ministers

  SERVICE Wu Shih-wen has become minister of defense at a time of transition, as Taiwan's army has gained some independence from political meddling

  • By Brian Hsu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Minister of National Defense Wu Shih-wen (伍世文), awarded yesterday with a medal for his contribution to military reform during his term as deputy defense minister, is Taiwan's 22nd defense minister -- a post which is notable in Taiwan's history for its number of incumbents and not how long they served.

  The defense ministry's greatest struggle of late has been to wrest ultimate control of defense matters from the Chief of the General Staff. The minister of defense's supremacy in the military chain of command was finally enshrined in the National Defense Law on Jan. 15 this year.

  In the 54 years before Wu took office, Taiwan saw 21 ministers of national defense and 17 chiefs of the general staff, fewer than would have been the case had the current fixed term of two years, laid down by the Ministry of Defense Organization Law -- also passed on Jan. 14 this year -- applied.

  

  Premier Tang Fei awards the Cloud Banner medal to Minister of National Defense Wu Shih-wen at the Executive Yuan yesterday to honor Wu's contributions toward military reform during his term as vice minister in the previous government.

  PHOTO: CNA.

  There have been more defense ministers than chiefs of the general staff (CGS) mainly because the appointment of the former has been more easily subject to political influence, according to a retired top-ranking military official who declined to be identified.

  The first defense minister was General Pai Chung-hsi (白崇禧), whose status as a hero of the Anti-Japanese War substantially contributed to his appointment, which was nevertheless the subject of negotiations between different camps in the military, the ex-military leader says.

  He held the position for nearly two years, a term whose duration is unremarkable in terms of the new fixed term, but which was not to be repeated for many of the intervening years.

  The next five defense ministers served an average of less than five months each, between June 1948 and April 1950. Three of those, Hsu Yung-chang (徐永昌), Yen Hsi-shan (閻錫山), and Ku Chu-tung (顧祝同), moreover, held the post concurrently with other positions, while one of the others, Ho Yin-chin (何應欽), held it twice, the only person ever to do so.

  Ho is also one of only five to have occupied both the position of defense minister and chief of the general staff. His first term having lasted five months, he served a one-month second term from May to June, 1949, while also serving as premier

  Yen, Ho's successor, also held the premiership and the defense portfolio at the same time, for seven months. Within the almost two-year period, none of the five ministers held office long enough to promote and groom successors, a trend indicative of the political instability of the time.

  "It has a lot to do with then-president Chiang Kai-shek's (蔣介石) retirement [as president in 1949]. Chiang's departure left political and military leaders as `a host of dragons without a head.' The situation improved after Chiang came back to power on March 1, 1950," the retired general said.

  "One of the first things Chiang did after regaining power was to offer renowned weaponry specialist Yu Ta-wei (俞大維) a term as defense minister, but Yu declined and then-premier Chen Chen (陳誠) assumed concurrent charge of the defense portfolio," he said.

  A degree of stability was achieved for a while when Kuo Chi-chiao (郭寄橋) was given the job, which he kept for nearly three years.

  "But Kuo was not a choice widely accepted by the military leadership and was therefore somewhat ineffectual as defense minister, especially in light of the greater power enjoyed by chief of the general staff, Chou Chih-ju (周至柔)," the retired general said.

  The first truly powerful defense minister was Kuo's successor, Yu Ta-wei, who had refused the job at the first invitation. He was also the first civilian defense minister.

  Yu held the post for an unrivalled almost 11-year term and helped to improve the fragile defense structure, making the job easier for his successor Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), Chiang Kai-shek's son.

  Ching-kuo was no less powerful a minister than Yu -- in part because he was heir-apparent to the president, and in part because of Yu's organizational accomplishments within the ministry.

  After defense affairs became increasingly institutionalized through successive efforts by Yu and Chiang, the president was able to appoint defense ministers in accordance with more universally accepted approaches to military leadership, involving, in particular, seniority.

  The next three defense ministers, from 1968 to 1981, were promoted on the basis of seniority.

  Huang Chieh (黃杰), the first, was a first year graduate of the Army Academy, of which his two successors, Chen Ta-chin (陳大慶) and Kao Kuei-yuan (高魁元), both three years Huang's junior, had also been classmates.

  The ranks of appointees to the post after the senior Chiang's death in 1975, carry the hallmark of the personal preferences of his son and successor, Chiang Ching-kuo. The first of these was Sung Chang-chih (宋長志), the first naval general to take the post, his appointment meeting with no objections from the other branches of the military.

  Chiang's next two defense ministers were both said to be of a mild temperament, which is likely to have served his political needs at the time. One was from the National Security Council.

  After former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) came to power following Chiang Ching-kuo's death in 1988, the defense minister became something of a pawn in the battle for the balance of military power. To lure Hao Pei-tsun (郝柏村) away from the position of CGS, which he had already held for eight years, Lee went to great lengths to have him appointed to the defense portfolio and ultimately to the premiership.

  At the same time, in order to establish his control over the military, Lee appointed two hand-picked civilians to succeed Hau. Neither was successful in establishing his authority over the Chief of the General Staff and Lee turned once again to the military.

  The strategy worked and has remained effective up to the present, the succeeding two defense ministers, Chiang Chung-ling (蔣仲苓) and Tang Fei (唐飛) having finally steered the defense ministry to a preeminent position in the leadership of defense affairs, their efforts culminating in the formalization of its ascendant role in the National Defense Law.
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