Feng Shih-kuan


Feng Shih-kuan is a Taiwanese politician. He served in the Republic of China Air Force from 1967 to 2006, retiring with the rank of General before assuming the post of Minister of National Defense in 2016. Feng stepped down in 2018, and was succeeded by Yen Teh-fa.

Education

Feng completed his Chinese Air Preparatory School of the Ministry of National Defense in 1963. He graduated from the Republic of China Air Force Academy in 1967. He obtained his Flight Safety Officer Class from University of Southern California in the United States in 1977. In 1981, he completed his study from the Armed Forces University in the Chinese Air Command and Staff College in 1981 and in the Chinese War College in 1988.

Non-military career

Feng joined Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation as company chairman on 2 May 2006. He was hired to oversee the completion of upgrades to the AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-kuo, which had been ongoing for seven years and cost NT$7 billion.

Ministry of National Defense

Feng was named Minister of National Defense in April 2016, a month before the Tsai Ing-wen administration was to take office. For accepting a post in a Democratic Progressive Party-led government, the Kuomintang suspended Feng's membership. Subsequently, Feng withdrew from the Kuomintang.

Cross–Strait relations

Speaking at the Foreign and National Defense Committee of the Legislative Yuan on 23 May 2016, Feng said that he would not support the Taiwan independence movement.
At 8:15 a.m. on 1 July, a Hsiung Feng III missile was inadvertently launched from a corvette docked at Zuoying Military Harbor. The strike hit the Taiwanese fishing boat Hsiang Li Sheng, killing the captain and injuring three of his crew. Feng arrived in Kaohsiung to deliver a personal apology to the fisherman's family the next day, but it was rejected. Zhang Zhijun, leader of the Taiwan Affairs Office, also asked for Taipei to adequately explain the incident, which was placed under investigation.

Later political career

Feng resigned as defense minister on 23 February 2018, and was replaced by Yen Teh-fa. Subsequently, Feng was appointed the founding director of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, established in May. On 5 August
2019, Yeh took office as minister of the Veterans Affairs Council, succeeding Chiu Kuo-cheng, who had been named director-general of the National Security Bureau.