MND to investigate U.S. arms purchase

Kao said that the military sector shouldn't have any preset stance on the scandal when carrying out the investigation, and should publicize the investigation results.

The defense minister said that the military sector will set up an ad hoc panel to review the organization of the ROC Defense Mission to the U.S. and come up with an improvement proposal.

He added that his ministry has dispatched specialists to the U.S. to carry out investigations of the allegations. Kao made the remarks in response to press reports on the eruption of serious conflicts within the said mission, in that Dan Zhi-long of the ROC Defense Mission to the U.S. allegedly accused his deputy Hsu Wei-guang of committing over 30 demerits, including playing golf during office hours, giving precious gifts to officials of the Ministry of National Defense, and handling unauthorized talks with U.S. arms dealers, among others.

Both Dan and Hsu yesterday declined to comment on the matter, on grounds that as the Ministry of National Defense is carrying out administrative investigation, it's inconvenient for them to make any comments.

Quite a few staffers of the ROC Defense Mission to the U.S. said that it's quite difficult for outsiders to judge whether Dan or Hsu was wrong. The problem lies in the personnel system, in that the Ministry of National Defense installed two a deputy director at the mission without clear division of labor between the top two officials at the Mission.

Meanwhile, Yuan Chien-sheng, Taiwan's representative to the U.S,, told a Central News Agency correspondent in Washington D.C. that he felt a pity to learn of discords within the ROC Defense Mission to the U.S., but the mission's overall performance has been quite satisfactory.

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