A former National Security Bureau (NSB) chief returned to the post yesterday after he was tapped by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Thursday to take over the helm of the country’s top intelligence body.
Tsai Chao-ming (蔡朝明), first non-Mainlander to hold the country’s top intelligence post, succeeded Shi Hwei-yow (許惠祐) as the NSB director-general after Shi’s resignation on Tuesday.
Media reports said Ma chose Tsai because of his knowledge of intelligence affairs and his belief that illegal wiretapping must not be allowed.
Tsai was first promoted to the top NSB post in 2001 by then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
shooting
He resigned in 2004 to take responsibility for the March 19 shooting of Chen and then vice president Annette Lu in Tainan City on the eve of their re-election.
Shi confirmed on Wednesday that he had tendered his resignation a day earlier to facilitate Ma’s efforts to rearrange his administration’s lineup.
He said he did not tender his resignation until a month after Ma’s inauguration because he was waiting to pass his job to his successor.
Also yesterday, new National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) assumed office in a changeover ceremony presided over by Minister of the Interior Liao Liao-yi (廖了以) at the NPA headquarters in Taipei City.
Wang, a former director-general of the Taipei City Police Department, took control of the nation’s top police post from Hou You-yi (侯友宜), who has been appointed as the new president of the Central Police University.
Speaking at the ceremony, Liao praised Hou for his outstanding performance as NPA chief, noting that the public’s level of satisfaction with public order increased dramatically during his two-plus years in the post.
morale
Liao also lauded Hou’s success in boosting the morale of the police force and securing salary raises.
Liao expressed the hope that Wang will be able to build on the foundation laid down by Hou and lead the 70,000-strong police force in making Taiwan the safest country in Asia.
For his part, Wang said that his task as new head of the NPA will focus on the four goals of improving human rights, boosting the police force’s effectiveness, increasing discipline and improving the force’s image.
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