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LEGISLATURE URGED TO DELIBERATE ARMS PACKAGE S00N

ROC Central News Agency

2005-09-22 21:53:39

    Taipei, Sept. 21 (CNA) An official from the Ministry of National Defense (MND) called on the opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan Thursday to put an arms procurement draft bill on the legislative agenda for deliberation as soon as possible, saying that the ministry will accept the screening result.

    Hu Chen-pu, director of the MND's Bureau of General Political Warfare, told a news conference that the draft statute governing an arms procurement package has been rejected by the Rules Committee 29 times since it was submitted to the legislature for deliberation in June last year.

    The MND has briefed legislators from the ruling and opposition parties on the arms procurement package more than 170 times since then, and has listed the financing for Patriot anti-missile batteries in the regular budget as demanded by lawmakers instead of the originally proposed special budget, with the total outlay required for the package lowered from NT$610.8 billion to NT$340 billion, Hu said.

    In spite of such pragmatic adjustments, Hu pointed out, the opposition "pan-blue alliance" of the Kuomintang and the People First Party, which holds a slim majority in the 225-seat legislature, still filibustered the budget plan, making it impossible for the arms procurement package to enter the review process during the newly opened legislative session.

    The package comprises three big-ticket weaponry items -- eight diesel-electric submarines, a squadron of 12 P-3C anti-submarine aircraft and six Patriot PAC III anti-missile batteries. For more than a year, the "pan-blue alliance" has refused to screen the package because it claims the price is too high and that it should be listed under the regular budget rather than a special budget.

    Noting that the military has conducted a series of careful evaluations on a procurement plan for the three items based upon the nation's defense needs, Hu said the MND began to push for the procurement as early as seven years ago in compliance with the military buildup procedures.

    It is regrettable that the opposition-controlled legislature has refused to conduct rational, professional and objective discussions of the package, which concerns national security, Hu said.

    The armed forces belong to the Republic of China and all of its people, and do not belong to any political party or individual, Hu noted. "In the face of the growing military threaten from China, we cannot afford any internal attrition," he stressed.

    Claiming that no political party should put its own interests before national security, Hu voiced the hope that all lawmakers will understand that the arms are vital to upgrading Taiwan's defense capabilities and agree to put the package on the legislative agenda as soon as possible.

(By Luis Huang)

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