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MILITARY MAINTENANCE BUDGET REDUCTION A CONCERN: PFP LAWMAKER

ROC Central News Agency

2005-09-19 17:14:23

    Taipei, Sept. 19 (CNA) An opposition People First Party lawmaker on Monday questioned the government's policy of spending less money on the maintenance of military equipment as "this policy will place

military personnel in an unsafe environment."

    According to Lin Yu-fang, although President Chen Shui-bian has promised publicly that the government will increase the nation's defense budget, the fact is that the government has gradually reduced

military spending since the Democratic Progressive Party became the ruling party in 2000.

    The legislator said at a press conference held earlier in the day that Chen promised to increase the national defense budget to 3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) within the coming three years; however, the budget introduced by the government for fiscal 2005 only reaches 2.42 percent of GDP, or a record low for defense spending ever introduced by the Cabinet.

    Saying that the current national defense budget pays more heed to the purchase of sophisticated arms rather than the maintenance of old weapons and equipment, Lin said that this exposes the Ministry of National Defense's shortcomings of "attaching great importance to arms procurement and neglecting logistic services in the rear."

    He further said that the spending on the purchase of spare parts of military equipment has sharply been cut due to the proposed purchase of Patriot III anti-missile batteries which has been included in the annual budget plan of the ministry.

    Spending on spare parts in 2006 will be reduced by nearly NT$1.3 billion, or a decrease of 12 percent from the level of the previous year, the legislator said, adding that the budget introduced by the ministry for the procurement of various armed vehicles and spare parts of 18 kinds of military equipment in 2006 will also be cut NT$360 million, or a decrease of 20 percent from the level of 2005, which will certainly deteriorate the maintenance capability of the military.

    Furthermore, as the ministry has decided to spend less in resolving the problems related to the storage of ammunition and the handling of useless ammunition, who dares to store ammunition in depots? Lin asked.

    Noting that the government has repeatedly accused the "pan-blue alliance" of neglecting the nation's security, the legislator, however, said that actually, it is the government itself who turns a blind eye to the maintenance of military equipment and cuts gradually the budget for national defense.

    The lawmaker also condemned the government for forcing military personnel into an unsafe situation and requested Lee Jye, minister of national defense, clearly explain why his ministry cannot get a sufficient budget from the government for spending on the purchase of arms and on the maintenance of old equipment.

(By P.C. Tang)

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