The commander of the army's 10th corps, Lieutenant General Chia Fu-yi (賈輔義), will today begin his latest assignment as chief of the Kinmen Defense Command, a position which has been unoccupied for over five days, according to defense sources.
The Chief of Staff of Army General Headquarters, Lieutenant General Tseng Chin-ling (曾金陵) succeeds Chia as commander of the 10th corps.
Former Kinmen commander Lieutenant General Hsueh Shih-ming's (薛石民) Aug. 10 transfer to the Military Intelligence Bureau under the Ministry of National Defense prompted the changes.
Having the Kinmen command post unoccupied for the span of five days is almost unprecedented, as the island is the nation's nearest outpost to hostile Chinese forces.
Lieutenant General Kao Hua-chu (
Army generals who perform well in leading the Kinmen command are considered likely candidates for the post of commander-in-chief of the army.
Incumbent commander-in-chief of the army General Chen Cheng-hsiang (
There has been much speculation about who that successor would be. Most newspapers predicted that Lieutenant General Tai Po-te (戴伯特), leader of the 6th corps, was likely to be chosen due to reasons of seniority.
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