Taiwan defence minister offers to resign

TAIPEI: Taiwan Defence Minister Tang Yiau-ming agreed on Monday to withdraw his resignation just hours after asking to step down because of ill health, Premier Yu Shyi-kun told a news conference.

“For everyone to politicise this is an insult to his integrity,” said Yu, referring to speculation that Tang’s offer to resign was linked to Saturday’s disputed presidential election. Incumbent Chen Shui-bian won by the narrowest margin in such a poll in the history of Taiwan’s young democracy.

“I returned his resignation letter and asked him to stay on,” Yu said, adding that the defence minister would now take time off to rest.

“The president said we must keep minister Tang no matter what, because he is truly serious, hardworking and dedicated to the nation,” Yu said. He said Tang had worked to transform the military into one loyal to the nation rather than to a single party. Chen cited that change in a military effectively created by the Nationalist Party, now in opposition, as one of the biggest achievements of his first four-year term. —Reuters

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