President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday called for the drafting of a “code of conduct” for retired generals after a former general on a visit to China was quoted as saying that the Republic of China (ROC) Army and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are both “China’s army.”
Retired generals should put the interests of Taiwan above all, present a transparent itinerary and exercise prudence when visiting China, Presidential Office spokesman Fan Chiang Tai-chi (范姜泰基) quoted Ma as saying at the Presidential Office.
“Retired generals are not government officials, but their words and actions remain very sensitive ... If the media reports are true, then the [general’s] comments went against national policy and should be condemned,” Fan Chiang said.
According to Fan Chiang, Ma was “stunned” when he learned of the reported quote.
Ma’s directive follows Taiwanese media citing a Chinese media report quoting PLA Major General Luo Yuan (羅援) as saying that a Taiwanese speaker recently told a gathering of retired generals from both sides of the Taiwan Strait in China: “From now on, we should no longer separate the ROC Army and the PLA. We are all China’s army.”
The Chinese report identified the speaker as retired Air Force General Hsia Ying-chou (夏瀛洲).
DENIAL
Hsia denied making such a remark, but the reports sparked criticism from both Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, who urged the government to set clear rules on military personnel exchanges with China.
Ma yesterday met with National Security Council Secretary-General Wu Wei-chen (胡為真), Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu (高華柱) and Veteran Affairs Commission Minister Tseng Jing-ling (曾金陵) to discuss the incident.
Ma said government bodies should strengthen efforts to promote the administration’s cross-strait policy, especially its “three noes” policy of no unification, no independence and no use of force, Fan Chiang said.
Ma said that even if Hsia was misquoted, the government “has learned a lesson” from the incident, Fan Chiang said.
Unconvinced, the DPP called on Ma to pay the “ultimate responsibility,” saying Hsia’s alleged comments had demoralized the armed forces and “harmed national sovereignty.”
APOLOGY
“It’s the result of the [government’s] attitude of bending over backwards and constantly seeking China’s favor that Ma, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, has adopted since assuming office,” DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said. “He should correct the public perception and personally apologize to the public.”
The DPP has asked for a full review of the pension benefits that retired senior officers who have traveled to China still enjoy, saying it is “unfair” for Taiwanese taxpayers to be subsidizing their “Chinese ideals.”
While some DPP lawmakers demanded the government immediately revoke Hsia’s pension and other retirement benefits, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said the government needed proof first that the former general broke the law before it could withhold his pension.
“It is unreasonable to make such a demand when we’re still trying to determine whether he actually made those remarks,” Hsieh said.
Hsia has stressed that he never made the comments when questioned by the media.
In the face of the media scrutiny, the retired general yesterday said that KMT and Ma administration officials had also frequently traveled to China.
“I am of the Shandong temperament and the government’s attitude on this issue is quite heart chilling,” Hsia said, alluding to the stereotypical depiction of people from China’s Shandong Province as being hot-tempered.
“If President Ma Ying-jeou wants to find somebody to blame, just pick me,” he said, adding that it was in the interests of cross-strait peace that retired generals weren’t spending their days resting at home, but spending their own money to travel to China.
Hsia said the government’s treatment of retired officers was being watched by those still in service.
As for Ma’s demands that retired officers should ensure that their visits to China are conducted in a transparent manner, and that they should watch their words and actions, Hsia said the government does not have an agency retirees could report to even if they wanted to.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO AND CNA
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