• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Defense minister to step down if censure cases continue unabated

ROC Central News Agency

2010/03/16 16:50:05

Taipei, March 16 (CNA) National Defense Minister Kao Hua-chu on Tuesday vowed to step down if he is not successful in reducing the rate at which the Control Yuan is censuring people under his ministry for ethical irregularities.

Kao was responding to questions posed by lawmaker Chiang Lin-chun of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) , who said the Ministry of National Defense (MND) has been among the government's most censured agencies.

Chiang pointed out that during 2008 and 2009, the MND and its subordinate agencies accounted for 10 percent of all censures meted out by the Control Yuan, the country's top body responsible for monitoring the behavior of government officials and civil servants.

Of the 348 people the Control Yuan asked government agencies to discipline in 2008, 118, or more than one-third, were with the MND.

In 2009, the Control Yuan impeached 45 people, eight of whom were part of the ministry.

"If the situation is not improved, I'll step down," Kao affirmed, after being asked by Chiang if the MND would continue to be the top target of the Control Yuan next year.

Kao said his ministry is different from other agencies because of its size, with a staff of 370,000 people if the armed forces are included.

But he acknowledged that the ministry's scale could not be used as an excuse and said that it is conducting "monthly, and even weekly reviews." Meanwhile, Kao said that the ministry will weigh the experience of other nations in deciding whether to increase the annual NT$700 (US$21.94) subsidy given to female soldiers to buy underwear.

Kao said the cost of clothing for soldiers is included in their salary in almost every country with the exception of France, which allocates additional funds to subsidize clothing purchases.

The media reported Tuesday that everything soldiers wear, from their uniform and neck ties to shoes, socks and sneakers have been purchased in bulk and distributed individually, but as the sizes of the underwear used by female soldiers vary widely, the ministry gives them a subsidy to buy their own.

When the NT$700 subsidy began in the early 1990s, it was adequate to meet servicewomen's needs because price levels were lower at the time, Kao said, but the military is revisiting the issue now that prices are higher and female soldiers account for nearly 6 percent of all military personnel. (By Shih Sinyao, Justine Su and Lilian Wu) enditem/ls