Andrew Yang, 58, had previously been deputy defense minister and replaces Kao Hua-chu, who resigned today. Premier Jiang Yi-huah announced the appointment without elaborating on the reasons for Kao's departure.
His appointment follows the death July 3 of a soldier who was being punished for carrying a cell phone on base.
University graduate Hung Chung-chiu, 24, died after being forced to perform rigorous calisthenics in sweltering heat and was three days from completing his mandatory 20-month service requirement. Four officers have been detained in connection with his death.
He has traveled frequently to the US, where he maintains close ties with leading Pentagon officials. Despite shifting its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, Washington remains Taiwan's moist important foreign defense partner.
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Yang inherits a defense ministry beset by considerable turmoil. It was struggling to attract enough recruits to complete an ambitious conversion from a conscripted military force to an all-volunteer army by 2015. The negative fallout over Hung's deaths makes the target seem more unlikely than ever.
In a March speech, the former de facto US ambassador to Taiwan said the problem was severe enough to raise doubts about Taiwanese trustworthiness among American decision makers in the security sphere.