Minister of National Defense Ku Li-hsiung attended the Legislative Yuan Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on the 14th to report and consult on "Reshaping the Military and Civil Aviation Functions of National Airports with the Relocation of Songshan Airport and the Expansion of Taichung Airport." (File photo, taken by reporter Cong Changjin)
[Reporter Luo Tianbin/Reporting from Taipei] Since Defense Minister Gu Lixiong took office, he has quietly overturned the rigid thinking of the traditional Whampoa Military Academy with his legal person's organization and pragmatic "subtraction thinking." He vigorously promoted the reform of defense procurement, breaking the rigid restrictions of the past that "must be military regulations", and replaced it with a flexible thinking of "adopting whatever is most suitable for Taiwan and Peng defense operations." He also introduced the concept of the Defense Innovation Group (DIO) to purchase mature technologies from the private sector in small quantities and off-the-shelf. Recently, the Military Police Command has used this model to introduce a small anti-drone "light weapons fire control system" with AI algorithm assistance and mobile "hard kill", successfully filling the air defense gap in the Taipei Garrison. While introducing civilian water, it also has the courage to fully dismantle extremely small purchase cases, requiring that even if it only buys two drones, they must be disassembled and inspected, showing its strict determination to completely eliminate the red supply chain.
At that time, there was a rumor on the Internet that Gu Lixiong had never served in the military, but he personally showed his discharge order to refute it. It turned out that he was the Army's 30th second lieutenant preparatory officer, serving in the Army's only ship transport battalion that had "LCM landing craft". Gu Lixiong said with a smile that he was almost assigned to Matsu by lottery at that time, but he was lucky enough to stay in Keelung Port to manage ships and dispatch supplies. This special military career as a "naval force" in the army has become a practical military anecdote that is most often talked about by grassroots officers and soldiers in his current civilian military background.
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However, the public’s most profound memory of Gu Lixiong is still the sharp-tongued Hong family defense lawyer who stood on the opposite side of the military in the 2013 Hong Zhongqiu case. At that time, he had a strong confrontation with the military prosecution system, and ultimately promoted the major historical change of abolishing military trials. From the "counterbalancer" of the system back then to the "ruler" in charge of the three armed forces today, the dramatic change in identity has aroused great curiosity from the outside world. The outside world was once worried that he would have a conflict of ideas with traditional generals when he took office. However, through his comprehensive strategic baptism as secretary-general of the National Security Council, he has already transformed from a case-by-case human rights lawyer into a national security operator who is familiar with Taiwan and the United States' coordinated defense and asymmetric combat power deployment.
Defense Minister Gu Lixiong inspected the Army troops to learn about the "real-force simulated engagement system." (Provided by the Ministry of National Defense and Military News Agency)
After entering the Ministry of National Defense, Gu Lixiong showed his great wisdom as a legal person. Instead of purging the military with a critical eye, he promoted "subtractive reforms" from a grassroots standpoint. He has successively cut down on the formalism that has been criticized by the grassroots for a long time, such as canceling vacation rewards for officers and soldiers, relaxing restrictions on overseas travel, and even abolishing traditional stabbing skills and goose-stepping, and training more practical close combat combat. This kind of humanized management that treats officers and soldiers as adults not only effectively reduces the administrative burden of the army, but also earns the nickname "Welfare Hero" at the grassroots level. It uses practical welfare and trust to resolve the historical suspicion between the military and the civilians.
Although faced with the sluggish troop deployment ratio caused by the declining birthrate, and the special budget and "Special Regulations on Unmanned Vehicles" and other national defense bills that have raised questions about party offense, defense and bid-tying in the Legislative Yuan, Gu Lixiong's reform path is still full of challenges. However, he adheres to the "nationalization of the military" and the democratic norm of civilian leadership, fully respects the tactical command authority of the chief of staff, and focuses on fighting for the budget and communicating with Taiwan and the United States. Gu Lixiong's turn and attack not only broke the tradition of high-ranking generals taking turns to take over, but also used the rationality and warmth of a legal person to lead the national army through the DIO innovation model of "small batch procurement, rapid testing" to make strides in the direction of modernization and technology.
