Two top officials of the Presidential Office yesterday denied media reports of conflicts within the National Security Council (NSC), saying that recent personnel adjustments were designed to improve its functions.
"There is no reshuffle or reorganization going on in the NSC. Those rumors are completely without truth," NSC Secretary-General Kang Ning-hsiang (
The resignation of NSC deputy secretary general Chang Jung-feng (
Kang, accompanied by Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (
Kang said that when he read reports that NSC Deputy Secretary-General Antonio Chiang (
"Then I immediately called Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (
Kang said that leaks themselves indicated there were some problems within the council that would have to be addressed.
Chiou said Kang's work was very difficult, primarily because the NSC was an old organization with special characteristics and because specious reports about it frequently surfaced in the media.
"On top of this, the NSC's annual budget is not even NT$150 million. It's a poor government agency and is even smaller than the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission," Chiou said.
Chiou and Kang once were opponents and had clashed when they were leaders of the opposition movement in the 1980s before the DPP was formed. Chiou, who then was a young democratic theorist and radical grassroots activist, attacked Kang for wanting to reform the country by joining the KMT-dominated system.
Kang mentioned the unpleasant experiences yesterday after Chiou spoke.
"I am moved to see that Chiou is defending me because he was in the past a vehement opponent and has criticized me severely over many decades," Kang said.
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The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
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A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
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