PRESIDENT ATTACHES NO IMPORTANCE TO ARMS PROCUREMENT PROJECT: KMT
ROC Central News Agency
2005-09-25 17:38:34
Pingtung, Sept. 25 (CNA) Opposition Kuomintang Chairman Ma Ying-jeou claimed Sunday that it is President Chen Shui-bian and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party that attach no importance to the much-talked-about arms procurement project rather than the opposition.
Ma, on the campaign trail in the southernmost county of Pingtung with a KMT group, rebutted Chen's accusations in Central America and the Caribbean over the past several days that Taiwan's opposition parties have been opposing the arms procurement project because they want to curry favor with Beijing.
Discounting Chen's remarks, Ma said that the United States agreed in 2001 to sell the three weaponry items -- eight diesel-electric submarines, six Patriot PAC III anti-missile batteries and a squadron of 12 P-3C anti-submarine aircraft -- to Taiwan, but the DPP government did not submit a bill in this regard until three years later.
This, Ma claimed, indicates that Chen and the DPP did not pay major heed to the matter.
Moreover, Ma said, when the KMT was in office, arms procurement budget accounted for 4 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) , but today the figure has fallen to 2.4 percent since the DPP took power.
Meanwhile, Ma claimed that Chen was trying to blur the focus of attention by stressing a day earlier that the "Prospering with Allies" project calling for US$250 million to be spent in investing in Central America and the Caribbean was "by no means an example of the dollar diplomacy that was practiced by the former KMT government."
The problem with the project, according to Ma, is that it has not been approved or overseen by the legislature. While the Legislative Yuan will have no way to oversee the project, it will be a problem for all parties concerned how the money should be used and who will get the money, he said.
(By Deborah Kuo)
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