When Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was inaugurated as the new president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces nearly two months ago, there was a sense of instability in the military, especially among a number of die-hard anti-independence military leaders.
Now the tide seems to have changed in favor of Chen, who is gaining support from military leaders, including those who were initially strongly opposed to him.
Su Chin-chiang (蘇進強), a military analyst at Nanhua University, who has close contacts with military policy makers, said support for Chen among high-ranking military officials had risen in recent weeks, but that it had not spread to all levels of the military yet.
"Overall acceptance of Chen in the armed forces is not expected to happen for some time. But for the moment, top military leaders are responding more positively to Chen," Su said.
A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the rising support for Chen among the top brass could be put down to Chen taking the initiative with military leaders and demonstrating his concern for defense matters.
Chen started visiting military facilities on June 28 and participated in military activities, such as the just-concluded commissioning ceremony for the second combat wing of domestically-built IDFs in Tainan.
"An interaction of some sort has been achieved between Chen and military leaders at different levels through these activities. Chen did not meet opposition of any kind from any of the leaders he met during these visits. We can say a formal stability is in place in the armed forces," the defense official said.
"Some generals, who were initially reluctant to pledge loyalty to Chen because of his former pro-independence stance, have now changed their view of Chen. They may still maintain a distance in their contacts with Chen, but they no longer reject the idea of working for Chen," he said.
These generals include Army Commander-in-Chief General Chen Chen-hsiang (
"National security is no doubt President Chen's top priority concern for the moment. And defense affairs are of special interest to him. What he wants to achieve in the short term is to maintain the stability in the armed forces," military analyst Su said.
"Goals for Chen in the longer term are to put into practice the landmark defense law and the organizational law for the Ministry of National Defense, which were passed early this year. Chen does not seem to be interested in taking a dominant role in the matter," Su said.
"Chen would rather leave it to a third party, preferably an inter-departmental team, so as to avoid a clash of opinions and interests in the military administrative system as represented by the defense ministry and the military command system -- as represented by the chief of the general staff and his office -- which are to be integrated," he said.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
RSS