• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE BLOCKS ARMS PROCUREMENT BILL FROM AGENDA

Central News Agency

2005-05-10 20:43:30

    Taipei, May 10 (CNA) The opposition-dominated Rules Committee of the Legislative Yuan again blocked a bill Tuesday on major arms procurements initiated by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from the legislative agenda.

    The bill covers three items to be purchased -- eight diesel-electric submarines, six Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile batteries and a squadron of 12 P-3C anti-submarine aircraft -- from the United States.

    Other bills initiated by the DPP that were also blocked concern the exercise of the legislative right to consent to nominated members of the Control Yuan, as well as regulations on the assets of political parties.

    But a draft bill on a Taiwan Expo in 2008, as well as a special budget proposal to expand government investment in public construction works and a draft bill on the functioning of an ad hoc National Assembly that will be elected Saturday were put on the agenda of Friday's legislative floor meeting.

    Meanwhile, Tainan County Magistrate Su Huan-chih staged a sit-in fast in front of the Legislative Yuan Tuesday to underscore the need to pass a draft bill for the Taiwan Expo in 2008 quickly.

    Su, leading 400 Tainan residents who also attended the sit-in, expressed the hope that the Taiwan Expo bill will clear the legislature soon.

    DPP Legislators Huang Wei-tze and Cheng Yun-peng, as well as Lee Chuan-chiao of the main opposition Kuomintang, were on hand to lend support.

    Su said that the budget for the Taiwan Expo will come to around NT$19.5 billion (US$428.57 million) , but claimed that its ensuing revenues will top more than NT$30 billion. The holding of the expo will provide Taiwan with a chance to show the world a new face and will be an unprecedented development project for his county, he added.

    Su said that although the government is promoting the Taiwan Expo bill and although the three local government heads that will sponsor the exhibition have pulled out all stops in their lobbying efforts, inter-party bickering has seriously affected the legislation of the bill.

    Noting that South Korea and Japan have staged world-class expos and that China will stage an expo in 2010, Su urged the legislature to "give Taiwan a chance" at a time when, he claimed, the international profile of Taiwan is slipping.

    The protest will continue until Sunday.

(By Lilian Wu)

ENDITEM/J