Vice Minister of National Defense Michael Tsai (
"I am not clear about this matter. The minister has not spoken to me about whether he had asked to resign," Tsai said.
Tsai was responding to a question from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Hsiu-yen (
The Cabinet yesterday afternoon released a press statement dismissing the report. The Presidential Office also said Lee had not tendered his resignation.
Tsai yesterday said he had no knowledge of the matter and was not in a position to make any comment.
Tsai also said that he regretted the fact that the legislature had shelved the arms procurement plan, and he admitted that the ministry should be held responsible for failing to win legislative support.
Lee had previously said he would step down if the arms procurement plan failed to obtain legislative approval.
Included on the shopping list are six Patriot-III anti-missile batteries, eight diesel-electric submarines and a squadron of 12 anti-submarine aircraft from the US.
The Executive Yuan intends to pay for the weapons over a 15-year period starting next year.
Regarding another report that nearly 100 military generals will retire or be transferred to other positions on Saturday, Tsai said that the ministry adjusts the line-up of military officers every year.
But he said the report also contained "false information."
Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said that he knew nothing about Lee's supposed offer to resign.
"We absolutely recognize Minister Lee's efforts in pushing military reform and lobbying for the military procurement budget," Chen said. "Until the time when the premier leads the resignation of the Cabinet after the Legislative Yuan ends its last session in late January, every Cabinet official will continue to stand at their posts."
Additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS