The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it would issue commemorative medals in honor of veterans who fought the communists during the Cold War era, adding that the timing of the honors has nothing to do with Saturday’s presidential and legislative elections.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is to host public ceremonies later this month to present the first issue of the “Safeguard Taiwan Commemorative Medallion” to the recipients, or their dependents, in the case of deceased soldiers, the ministry said.
Assistant head of the ministry’s personnel department Major General Hsu Yen-pu (徐衍璞) said that about 12,000 veterans would be eligible — those who were wounded, captured by Chinese troops, sacrificed their life or displayed valor during battles in Cold War years.
Photo: Lo Tien-pin, Taipei Times
In response to media queries on announcing the awarding of the new medals just four days before the elections, Hsu said: “There is no political consideration in this, and the armed forces abide by principle of administrative neutrality. It has nothing to do with the upcoming elections.”
However, opposition legislators and critics were not convinced, saying the move was to sway voters toward the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in many closely fought legislative races.
“We are very suspicious of the motives behind this move. There are only four days to the elections, but the government and the military chose this time to announce this major initiative,” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said.
“This timing is an obvious attempt to influence the elections by granting favors to veterans and their families. The ruling party is trying to shore up its base among military personnel dependents and traditional pan-blue camp supporters by appealing to patriotism and flag waving,” said Tsai, who is a member of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
He said that the initiative should not be undertaken at such a sensitive time, as the decision should be left to the legislators who are elected in the upcoming polls.
Other critics said the move was Ma’s effort to consolidate support for the KMT, as this election campaign has seen pan-blue constituencies wracked by dissent and their votes splintered to support the People First Party, New Party, Republican Party and other upstart groups.
The ministry said that in addition to Taiwanese veterans, about 126 Americans and their dependants are also eligible, because US soldiers were killed or wounded in artillery battles at Kinmen, Matsu and other front-line islands, during what were known as the First and Second Taiwan Strait Crises between 1954 and 1958.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
COORDINATION, ASSURANCE: Separately, representatives reintroduced a bill that asks the state department to review guidelines on how the US engages with Taiwan US senators on Tuesday introduced the Taiwan travel and tourism coordination act, which they said would bolster bilateral travel and cooperation. The bill, proposed by US senators Marsha Blackburn and Brian Schatz, seeks to establish “robust security screenings for those traveling to the US from Asia, open new markets for American industry, and strengthen the economic partnership between the US and Taiwan,” they said in a statement. “Travel and tourism play a crucial role in a nation’s economic security,” but Taiwan faces “pressure and coercion from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]” in this sector, the statement said. As Taiwan is a “vital trading
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