Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday tried to convince the Ministry of National Defense (MND) to postpone its annual Yushan military drill so that president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) could attend.
“The drill is always held in April. The new president has the authority to reschedule it once he assumes office, Minister of National Defense Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) said during a Diplomacy and National Defense Committee meeting yesterday morning in response to a question by KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方).
Ma has rejected the Presidential Office’s invitation to attend the drill next Tuesday, saying he already had other obligations.
Tsai said that the warfare simulation is organized by the National Security Bureau (NSB).
While I have no problem with rescheduling the simulation, only the president has the authority to make such a decision, Tsai said.
Tsai and NSB Deputy Director Tsai Teh-sheng (蔡得勝) said they were ready to assist the new president in any way possible.
The committee also criticized the ministry after it was discovered that military prosecutors had begun to summon reporters during their investigations into the establishment of the private arms trading firm Taiwan Goal.
Three reporters who cover military affairs received telephone calls from military prosecutors while Tsai and ministry officials were at the committee meeting yesterday morning.
The prosecutors said the reporters were being summoned to help with the investigation.
The calls immediately became the focus of the discussion. KMT Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓) criticized the ministry for misleading the prosecutors, adding that the priority should not be finding the reporters who broke the story.
KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) asked General Political Warfare Bureau Director-General Yang Tien-hsiao (楊天嘯) to reveal who had given the order to call on the reporters. Tsai, speaking on Yang’s behalf, said that he, not Yang, had given the order.
He said he would respect freedom of speech but that reporters should obey the law.
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