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DPP URGES OPPOSITION TO FACE PRC MILITARY THREAT SQUARELY

Central News Agency

2005-07-20 17:31:29

    Taipei, July 20 (CNA) A United States report on China's military power has provoked a new round of war of words between Taiwan's ruling and opposition parties Wednesday, with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) legislative caucus accusing the major opposition parties of "not telling friend from foe" by blocking an arms purchasing bill at the legislature.

    In response, the largest opposition Kuomintang's (KMT) legislative caucus said peace across the Taiwan Strait is the top priority and all efforts should be made to avoid an arms race across the Strait.

    The U.S. Department of National Defence released a report July 19 warning that the military balance between China and Taiwan is tipping as China has been increasing its military budget while Taiwan has been cutting its and delaying a special budget bill to procure U.S. weapons to upgrade its defence capability.

    William C.T. Lai, secretary-general of the DPP caucus, said the bill has been blocked at the Procedure Committee by the two opposition parties that are harboring illusions about China.

    Lai called on the KMT and the second-largest opposition party, the People First Party (PFP) , to realize who is Taiwan's real enemy and not to drive Taiwan toward an abyss.

    Quoting the U.S. report, Lai said the U.S. has taken actions to counter China's growing military might, such as urging the European Union not to lift the arms embargo against China, listing the Taiwan Strait as part of the "common strategic objective" in its defence pact with Japan, and re-launching nuclear technology cooperation with India. "Not only the U.S., but also other major countries are concerned about China's rising military clout," he said.

    He said China's annual military budget has risen to NT$3 trillion (US$93.7 billion) , the country is targeting between 650 and 730 missiles at Taiwan, and Zhu Chenghu, a major general in the People's Liberation Army, has even threatened to use nuclear weapons in the event of a Taiwan Strait conflict.

    If the military balance across the Strait continues to worsen due to the opposition's blockage of the government's major arms procurement bill, not only Taiwan, but also the Asia-Pacific region and even the whole world, will suffer as a consequence, Lai warned.

    His KMT counterpart, Chen Chieh, said it is not surprising for the U.S. to interpret the cross-strait military imbalance this way because it is pushing for the sales of its weapons to Taiwan.

    What is important for cross-strait relations is for the two leaderships to work for peace, to cooperate in developing their economies and to avoid an arms race, Chen said. "Only in this way can a win-win situation be created for the people on both sides of the Strait," he added.

    He called on the ruling party and the government not to shift the responsibility to others for failing to pass the arms purchase bill. "The KMT is not against buying new weapons. As long as the DPP government is willing to use regular annual budget for that purpose, and not to leave the debt to our children and grandchildren, then we can discuss it," he said, stressing that the DPP is to blame for the legislative deadlock, and not anyone else.

    As to the decreasing defence budget, Chen also blamed this on the DPP government, because, he said, since it gained power in 2000, Taiwan's economy has not done well and government revenue has been shrinking, forcing the government to lower the defence budget.

    Lin Yu-fang, a PFP lawmaker and a convener of the Legislative Yuan's National Defence Committee, said that the U.S. report made it clear that China is deploying missiles opposite Taiwan in order to prevent Taiwan from declaring independence.

    By publishing that point of view, the U.S. government is "speaking for China," he said, implying the two giants have a common interest in stopping Taiwan from declaring itself to be an independent country. "China deploying those missiles against Taiwan does not mean it will fire them at Taiwan, " Lin said. However, he noted that the missiles are China's best deterrent; if Taiwan does proclaim independence, they could create a "psychological impact" more effective than anything else.

    David Huang, deputy convener of the minor opposition Taiwan Solidarity Union's legislative caucus, ridiculed the "pan-blue alliance" of the KMT and the PFP for adopting a policy of "opposing the U.S. and toadying to China."

    In order to defend Taiwan's hard-won freedom and democracy, he said, "we have to pay a price." He called on the "pan-blue" opposition parties to agree to a special summer legislative session to pass the long-overdue special budget bill.

    As Taiwan's national interests coincide with those of the U.S. at this stage, it would be worth Taiwan's while to take a good look at the U.S. report, Huang said.

(By S.C. Chang)

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