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KMT LEGISLATIVE CAUCUS OPPOSES REVIEWING ARMS BILL

ROC Central News Agency

2005-09-08 16:35:59

    Taipei, Sept. 8 (CNA) The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan refused Thursday to review the arms procurement bill put forward by the Cabinet, saying that they will not exclude the possibility of requesting that the executive branch present a new budget plan to the legislature.

    As the referendum held in 2004 on whether the country should strengthen its anti-missile defense capability failed to obtain the need participation from voters to be considered valid, the caucus said that an inclusion of the procurement of six Patriot PAC III anti-missile batteries in the Executive Yuan's annual budget is certainly against the law and that reviewing it would be unlawful.

    They also said that their opposition to the examination of the arms procurement bill remains unchanged, although KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou and Wang Jing-pyng, speaker of the Legislative Yuan, have reached a consensus on the legislature's examination of the procurement of eight diesel-powered submarines and 12 P-3 anti-submarine aircraft.

    The caucus's stance on the arms deal was clearly reflected by KMT legislators Tseng Yung-chuan, Su Chi, Ting Shou Chung and Pan Wei-kang at a news conference they jointly held earlier in the day.

    Questioning the Executive Yuan's legitimacy of including the purchase of the Patriot PAC III anti-missile batteries in its annual budget, Tseng said that as the issue was rejected by the people in the 2004 referendum, the Cabinet cannot again present the same budget plan for the procurement of the missiles within three years. "How can the Legislative Yuan go against the law to examine the bill, which was presented by the executive branch illegally and against the will of the public," he added.

    Ting, also a member of the KMT's arms procurement group, said that the government " is obviously turning a blind eye to the law" in terms of presenting its annual budget for the purchase of the Patriot anti-missile batteries, adding that without taking issues related to cross-strait relations, national defence, public opinion and political situations into consideration, the procurement of arms from the United States is "useless" and "self-consolation."

    Pointing out that neither the executive nor the legislative branch can take the law into their own hands, Su, also a member of the group, said he firmly insists that the Patriot anti-missiles cannot be included in the Cabinet's annual budget since " the government has no right to do this."

    KMT Chairman Ma also said Wednesday while addressing the party's regular Central Committee meeting that the Cabinet should first settle the problems posed in the aftermath of the 2004 referendum if it wants to push for the passage of the long-stalled arms procurement bill in the legislature.

    In the referendum, only 45.17 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots, making the referendum invalid. However, of those who did vote, over 90 percent supported buying more defensive weapons.

(By P.C. Tang)

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