Feng Shih-kuan (; born 25 November 1945) is a Taiwanese politician. He served in the

Republic of China Air Force The Republic of China Air Force, retroactively known by its historical name the Chinese Air Force and unofficially referred to as the Taiwanese Air Force, is the military aviation branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces, currently based ...

from 1967 to 2006, retiring with the rank of

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

before assuming the post of

Minister of National Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

in 2016. Feng stepped down in 2018, and was succeeded by

Yen Teh-fa Yen Teh-fa (; born 14 November 1952) is a Taiwanese politician and retired general of the Republic of China Army. His ancestral home was in Nanjing. He was previously the Minister of National Defense and the secretary-general of the National Secur ...

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 The Republic of China Air Force Academy (CAFA; ) is the service academy for the air force of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and is located in Gangshan District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. History Mainland China The Republic of China Air Force Academ ...

in 1967. He obtained his Flight Safety Officer Class from

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

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 Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC; 漢翔航空工業 or 漢翔航空) is a Taiwanese aerospace company based in Taichung. It is one of only two Taiwanese companies with the capabilities of a traditional American or European d ...

as company chairman on 2 May 2006. He was hired to oversee the completion of upgrades to the

AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-kuo The AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-Kuo (), commonly known as the Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF), is a multirole combat aircraft named after Chiang Ching-kuo, the late President of the Republic of China. The aircraft made its first flight in 1989. It ent ...

, which had been ongoing for seven years and cost NT$7 billion.

Ministry of National Defense

Feng was named

in April 2016, a month before the

Tsai Ing-wen Tsai Ing-wen (; born 31 August 1956) is a Taiwanese politician serving as president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2016. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Tsai is the first female president of Taiwan. She served as ...

administration was to take office. For accepting a post in a Democratic Progressive Party-led government, the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

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 The Taiwan independence movement is a political movement which advocates the formal declaration of an Independence, independent and Sovereign state, sovereign Taiwanese state, as opposed to Chinese unification or the status quo in Cross-Str ...

. At 8:15 a.m. on 1 July, a

Hsiung Feng III The Hsiung Feng III (HF-3; , "Brave Wind III") is a medium range supersonic missile with capabilities to destroy both land based targets and naval targets developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) in Taiwan ...

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 Zhang Zhijun (; born 1 February 1953) is a Chinese diplomat and politician. From 17 March 2013 to 21 March 2018, he has served as the Minister of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council. He is currently the president of the Association ...

, leader of the

Taiwan Affairs Office The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council is an administrative agency under the State Council of Mainland China. It is responsible for setting and implementing guidelines and policies related to the Republic of China (Taiwan), as stipul ...

, 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

. Subsequently, Feng was appointed the founding director of the

Institute for National Defense and Security Research The Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR) is a Taiwanese think tank based in Taipei. The Institute’s mission is to safeguard Taiwan's democracy and prosperity by strengthening mutual understanding and advancing common inte ...

, established in May. On 5 August 2019, Yeh took office as minister of the

Veterans Affairs Council The Veterans Affairs Council (VAC; ) is a branch of the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China (Taiwan) with "responsibilities to assist in education assistance, employment assistance, medical care, home care and other general services" for reti ...

, succeeding

Chiu Kuo-cheng Chiu Kuo-cheng (; born 12 April 1953) is a Taiwanese politician and retired general of the Republic of China Army. He is the current Minister of National Defense. He was the Director-General of the National Security Bureau from 24 July 2019 to 22 ...

, who had been named director-general of the National Security Bureau.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feng, Shih-kuan 1945 births Living people Kuomintang politicians in Taiwan National Defense University (Republic of China) alumni People from Huai'an Republic of China Air Force personnel Republic of China politicians from Jiangsu Taiwanese people from Jiangsu Taiwanese Ministers of National Defense University of Southern California alumni