10/22/2019 Taiwanese President Ma apologises over soldier’s death | South China Morning Post

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China

Taiwanese President Ma apologises

over soldier’s death
AP  
Published: 4:01pm, 24 Jul, 2013

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou apologised on Wednesday over the death of

a 24-year-old soldier while under con nement in a military brig, and ordered
military o cials to investigate the tragedy.

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10/22/2019 Taiwanese President Ma apologises over soldier’s death | South China Morning Post

The death of the university graduate set o a wave of anger in the country,
undermining Ma’s already low popularity and raising hard questions about the
future of the island’s military.

Hung Chung-chiu died on July 3, after being forced to perform a vigorous

regime of sit-ups, push-ups, jumping jacks and squats in sweltering heat at a
base in suburban Taipei. A university graduate, Hung was only three days away
from completing his mandatory 20-month service requirement when he died.
His punishment was ordered because he brought a banned mobile phone onto
his base.

“I want to express my sincere apologies to the family,” Ma said, bowing deeply

at his Nationalist Party headquarters to express remorse over an incident that
has a ected Taiwan’s 23 million people with a force not seen since the jailing
of former President Chen Shui-bian on corruption charges nearly ve years
ago. “But apologising and leaving it at that just isn’t enough.”

Ma went on to delineate a series of detailed instructions he has given to high

ranking Defence Ministry personnel, aimed at nding out precisely how Hung
died.

Ma’s gesture aside, the real signi cance of the Hung case lies in the damage it
may do to Taiwan’s military, now in the midst of an ambitious transition from
a mixed force of conscripts and volunteers to an all-volunteer army. The
defence ministry says the transition is necessary to create a leaner, meaner
deterrent to a possible Chinese attack, which despite rapidly improving
relations between the sides, has never been taken o the table by Chinese
authorities.

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, and China continues to see the
island as part of its territory, to be brought back into the fold by persuasion if
possible, by force if necessary.

Source URL: https://scmp.com/news/china/article/1289817/ire-over-soldiers-

death-undermines-taiwan-army

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