Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (
After a talk with the premier at the Tri-Service General Hospital, Tang made the dramatic move of withdrawing his resignation.
He changed his mind less than two hours after Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General Huang Suei-sheng (
The announcement was made at a press conference that the ministry called at 4:00pm yesterday, without letting the press know in advance what it was about.
Huang read out a statement by Tang at the press conference, but refused to comment on whether Tang's resignation might be politically driven.
"As the presidential elections have been completed, I sincerely hope that political disputes in the country could be satisfactorily resolved and that social order could soon be restored," Huang quoted Tang as saying.
"Because of long-term eye diseases and old age, I do not think myself capable of handling the ministerial position. I have expressed my wish to resign to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Premier Yu before the presidential elections. Now I have turned in my resignation request on Sunday," Tang was quoted as saying.
Tang did not give any indication in the statement that his resignation might have any political motives behind it.
Huang also denied the possibility, saying Tang was asking to leave mainly for health reasons.
Before the election, Tang had been inspecting troops nationwide, including those on the outlying islands, without showing any sign that he was suffering from physical discomfort.
During his inspection tour, Tang proposed that the armed forces be allowed to exercise absentee votes in future. He said that quite a number of military personnel might otherwise not be able to vote in elections.
It was not the first time that Tang expressed a wish to step down. Early last year, Tang said he wanted to resign so that a civilian could be appointed as defense minister.
According to the National Defense Act (國防法), which was enacted two years ago, the defense minister should be a civilian.
It was also not the first time that Tang made an important gesture during a presidential election. In the 2000 presidential election, Tang used a pre-recorded video which was aired on all television channels after the election to swear loyalty to whichever candidate won. Tang, then chief of the general staff, was severely criticized for the move, which was considered to be unnecessary in a democratic society.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS