Former minister of defense Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) yesterday denied leaking military secrets about Taiwan’s development of medium-range missiles in his autobiography, saying that the information had already been made public.
“I would cooperate with any investigation if the Ministry of National Defense decides to probe the matter,” Tsai, who served as the first civilian minister of defense during the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, said on the sidelines of the launch of his memoir, titled God Bless Taiwan (天佑台灣).
Prior to the book launch, local media on Saturday reported that Tsai wrote in his book that Taiwan test-fired domestically produced medium-range missiles — which have credible performance in terms of speed, control, precision and error rates — in March 2008, raising concern from Washington. Following the report, the ministry said that it would not rule out initiating an investigation into the matter.
Tsai yesterday said that the development of the missiles has been reported by Taiwanese and US media and was discussed in legislative sessions, adding that the minsitry had also mentioned the development in its written and oral report to the legislature.
Former chief of the general staff Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) and former minister of defense Tang Fei (唐飛) revealed a lot more confidential military information in their memoirs, added Tsai, who headed the ministry for just three months in 2008 as the last defense minister of the DPP administration.
Tsai said that the revelation was positive and helped people regain confidence in the nation’s defense amid a growing military imbalance across the Taiwan Strait.
“People expressed strong support for making the revelation and for the missile project since the news was first reported as they understand that the ministry is doing its best to safeguard the country and Taiwanese,” Tsai told a seminar on cross-strait and regional security cooperation held after the book launch.
Tsai, who also once served as deputy representative to the US, underlined the role Washington plays in Taiwan’s security and would play in the case of another Taiwan Strait crisis.
The US played a pivotal role in three such crises in the past, including its military engagement in China’s bombardment of Kinmen in 1958 and in 1996, as well as the 319 shooting incident on the eve of Taiwan’s presidential election in 2004, Tsai said.
The former minister of defense reiterated his call for scrapping the all-voluntary recruitment of the military, saying that mandatory conscription remained necessary due to the increasing military threat from China, an insufficient defense budget and the nation’s low birthrate.
The ministry has elaborated the difficulties of implementing the system in the legislature, Tsai said, adding that countries facing the same military threats as Taiwan, such as South Korea and Singapore, have not implemented an all-volunteer system.
“I don’t know why President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) insisted on implementing the system when the time is not ripe,” he said.
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
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FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man
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