MND rebuts report of infighting in the military
ROC Central News Agency
2013/08/07 17:49:59
Taipei, Aug. 7 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) took issue on Wednesday with a report that Defense Minister Andrew Yang's abrupt resignation on Tuesday was the result of infighting in the military, dismissing it as sheer speculation.
'The report was untrue,' MND spokesman Luo Shou-he said at a news conference.
The Chinese-language daily China Times reported Wednesday that Yang's decision to resign six days after taking office reflected intense infighting within military ranks.
Yang, who was a deputy defense minister, took the helm of the MND after incumbent defense minister Kao Hua-chu resigned on Aug. 1 amid public furor over the death of an Army conscript under suspicious circumstances while he was being held in military confinement.
A scholar-turned politician, Yang was the first civilian to be appointed as defense minister in President Ma Ying-jeou's administration.
Yang said at a hastily called news conference Tuesday that he was determined to resign after a book he compiled and published in 2007 was suspected of containing plagiarized passages.
The China Times speculated that somebody familiar with military affairs had to be involved in leaking the information to encourage Yang's departure.
'It is extremely regrettable that the paper has run such a speculative report,' Luo said.
'We strongly protest the report as it has seriously affected the image of our armed forces.'
Luo said Chu Cheng-chi, the chief executive of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party's Taipei Chapter, had already come forward to admit his 'whistleblower' role in the case.
At a news conference Wednesday morning, Chu said he accidentally discovered that parts of an article in the book 'Ready for the D-Day' published by Yang in 2007 might have copied the translated version of an article by an American scholar that appeared in a magazine published in China.
'I made the discovery only recently as I became interested in Yang's research on defense strategy after he took over as defense minister,' Chu said.
He further said the decision to inform the tabloid Next weekly of his discovery was made purely on his own.
'Nobody provided me any information or gave me any advice before I made the move,' Chu said, adding that his move had nothing to do with military infighting.
Commenting on Chu's statement, Luo said Yang had admitted to being negligent in failing to spot the controversial part of the article, written by a research fellow surnamed Liao, before publishing it under his name.
Luo praised Yang for his responsible attitude in resigning out of fear that the ruckus over his mistake would harm the reputation of both the government and the military.
'I'm convinced that many Taiwanese have a positive view of his move,' Luo said.
He also dismissed the newspaper's speculation that the MND and the Army Command Headquarters were sparring over the handling of Corporal Hung Chung-chiu's death.
'The speculation is completely unfounded,' Luo said.
'The ministry and the Army headquarters have stood united in helping Hung's family find the truth behind his death and bring to justice those responsible.'
Hung, a 24-year-old graduate of National Cheng Kung University, died July 4 of heatstroke after completing a series of strenuous exercises that were part of his punishment in military confinement.
Several irregularities were later discovered in Hung's case, including that he should have not been put in military confinement for his original offense -- having a camera-equipped cellphone on a military base.
In addition, surveillance video at precisely the time Hung was forced to exercise in sweltering heat one day and three days before he died was blank, with many suspecting that it was erased to cover up potential abuse.
Hung's death and the military's subsequent lack of transparency or urgency in dealing with it sparked a public outcry, resulting in two massive protests held in Taipei to demand better human rights protection in the military and an overhaul of the court-martial system.
Eighteen officers have been indicted by military prosecutors on charges related to Hung's case.
Also, in an unusually quick move, the Legislature on Tuesday passed amendments to the Code of Court Martial Procedure that will have military servicemen prosecuted and tried in civilian courts for offenses committed during peacetime.
(By Kelven Huang and Sofia Wu)
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