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TAIWAN ASKED TO INVEST MORE IN NATIONAL DEFENSE

ROC Central News Agency

2005-09-22 12:35:19

    Miami, Sept. 21 (CNA) Two former ranking U.S. State Department officials on Wednesday said that they hope that Taiwan can do more in its national defense investment and that its legislature can pass the arms procurement bill as soon as possible.

    Richard Armitage, former deputy secretary of state, and Randall Schriver, former deputy assistant secretary of state, made the remarks ahead of paying a courtesy call to President Chen Shui-bian, who is currently in Miami for a one-day transit stopover en route to Central America.

    President Chen, at the head of a group of high-ranking officials and business leaders, arrived in the city earlier in the day from Anchorage, Alaska where he had made a 12-hour stopover.

    In response to media questions regarding what issues he will discuss with Chen during the meeting, Armitage said that he hopes to have a better understanding of the president's current thoughts on cross-Taiwan Strait issues.

    Touching on how to resolve the problems related to the long-stalled arms procurement bill in Taiwan's Legislative Yuan, the former deputy secretary of state said that he will first discuss the matter with Taiwan's head of state. "I hope they will pass (the bill)," he added.

    Meanwhile, Schriver also told the reporters that the United States safeguards the security in the Taiwan Strait in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act. If Taiwan prefers not to invest a little bit more in its national defense, "it will become harder for us," he said.

    Besides the two former officials, Terresa Shaheen, former chairwoman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) , a quasi-official organization in charge of U.S. relations with Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic relations between the two nations, also met with the president.

    The two former officials also joined AIT Honorary Chairman William Brown to participate in a luncheon hosted in the president's honor by congressional members from southern Florida constituencies.

(By S.J. Tsai and P.C.Tang)

Enditem/Li