Hundreds of former Republic of China Marine Corps members gathered at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei yesterday to protest the Ministry of National Defense’s plan to put the Marine Corps under the command of the Republic of China Army.
While delivering a report to the Legislative Yuan in March, Minster of National Defense Yen Ming (嚴明) said that the ministry was considering merging the Marine Corps into the army in an initiative called the Yong Ku project.
“We do not believe President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) promise that the Yong Ku project will not result in the total disbanding the Marine Corps and the military police headquarters,” protest convener Hsu Ting-pang (許定邦) said yesterday, adding that even if the corps were not disbanded, the merger would still weaken it too much.
Photo: CNA
Hsu said he hoped the protest would encourage the country to strengthen national consciousness education, be 100 percent forthcoming toward the dangers facing it, increase defense spending and bolster the procurement of weapons and defensive equipment.
“We hope the government will rescind its policy of having an all-volunteer armed forces and return to the half-compulsory, half-voluntary system,” Hsu said, adding that the demonstrators also want the government to reinstate the policy of keeping garrisons on outlying islands, as well as carry out a review on the current formation of the armed forces.
“The nation should seek to re-establish its dignity and forbid its retired generals from visiting China,” Hsu said.
The former marines call themselves the “Fire Ants” in a nod to the red shirts they wore for the event that bore the words “A Marine for a day, A Marine for Life.”
Hsu said yesterday was the second time the group has met to convey a message to the government, adding that the rally attended by hundreds of former marines had been three weeks in the planning.
The Ministry of Finance this afternoon announced the winning numbers for the March-April uniform invoice lottery. The winning number for the NT$10 million (US$318,060) special prize is 19531471, and the winning number for the NT$2 million grand prize is 85941329. Three numbers were drawn for the NT$200,000 first prize: 07225810, 20231230 and 83518781. Those with receipts matching the last seven digits of any of the first-prize numbers will win the NT$40,000 second prize, while those matching the last six digits will win the NT$10,000 third prize. Those whose receipts match the last five digits of the first-prize numbers can claim the NT$4,000 fourth prize,
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