TAIWAN President Lee Teng-hui gained a firmer grip over the armed forces with the appointment of a close adviser as Defence Minister yesterday, but the move may not be enough to revive flagging morale in Taiwan's military, say local analysts.
Retired army major-general Chiang Chung-liang, 72, takes over the reins of the Defence Ministry this morning from Dr Sun Chen, an economist and former president of National Taiwan University.
Dr Sun's 21 months as minister were punctuated by numerous mishaps and scandals, including the December 1993 murder of naval procurement officer Captain Yin Ching-feng, the later exposure of illicit dealings between officers and global arms sellers, and last month's suicide of an army major-general.
Arthur Ding, an associate research fellow on military affairs at Taipei's official Institute of International Relations, said: 'Sun had no roots in the armed forces and simply didn't understand military matters.
'Ideally, the defence minister should be a civilian but, realistically, there's no way a civilian without deep military roots can manage this system,' Mr Ding noted, adding that prohibitions on civilian research of defence issues during the nearly 40 years of martial law prevented cultivation of civilian defence expertise.
Professor Lin Chia-cheng of Taipei's Soochow University sociology department said that control over the top two defence positions by General Chiang and Chief of Staff Admiral Liu Ho-chien 'stabilises the military behind Lee'.
