KMT DENIES IT WILL 'CONDITIONALLY' AGREE WITH ARMS PURCHASE BUDGET
ROC Central News Agency
2005-10-03 17:24:22
Taipei, Oct. 3 (CNA) The Kuomintang (KMT) legislative caucus denied a newspaper report Monday that their party will "conditionally" refer the Executive Yuan's budget bill for a U.S. arms purchase to a committee of the Legislative Yuan for review.
KMT caucus whip Tseng Yung-chuan said the United Daily News report is baseless.
Meanwhile, the deputy chief of the KMT caucus, Legislator Pan Wei-kang, said she has not been informed of any changes to the KMT's approach to the budget bill, a matter that should be taken up by the caucus rather than KMT authorities.
KMT Legislator Shuai Hua-ming, who is named by the United Daily News as a member of a panel that recommended the party to give a "conditional" green light to the budget bill at the end of this year, said the idea disclosed by the newspaper "is quite good."
However, the KMT's political ally in the legislature, the People First Party (PFP), which is firmly against the budget bill, reacted angrily to the report.
PFP lawmaker Sun Ta-chien said at a news conference Monday that the report vindicates his party's long-standing fear that the KMT could betray its followers and the PFP by softening its opposition to the budget.
Noting that the KMT administration accumulated NT$2 trillion (US$60.18 billion) in government debt in its nearly five decades of rule up to 2000, Sun said the debt has grown to nearly NT$5 trillion (US$150.31 billion) under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration in just five years, and his party will never agree to the arms purchase.
The DPP government plans to purchase eight diesel-electric submarines, a squadron of 12 P-3C anti-submarine aircraft and six Patriot PAC III anti-missile batteries from the United States.
There has been speculation that the KMT had softened its opposition to the bill under pressure from the U.S. government and in consideration of the fact that the Ministry of National Defense agreed in September to list the financing for the Patriot anti-missile batteries in the regular budget, causing the proposed special budget in the bill to drop to NT$340 billion.
Sun reiterated his party's line against the purchase of the Patriot anti-missile batteries, claiming that the purchase has already been rejected in a referendum held in conjunction with the 2004 presidential election.
Also, Sun said his party opposed the purchase of 12 P3-C anti-submarine airplanes and eight submarines through a special budget, which will be financed mainly by government loans.
PFP spokesman Hsieh Kung-ping said the party would regret the news, if it were true, that the KMT has backpedaled on its opposition to the arms purchase budget bill.
If the KMT believes the public does not want to see the budget killed, the spokesman said, "The Kuomintang should come out in favor of the budget now rather than reverse its stance after the year-end elections so that the public can make its voice known through the ballot box."
Ironically, the PFP spokesman's views were shared by its political rival, the DPP.
DPP legislative caucus whip William Lai dared the KMT to ask its members in the Rules Committee of the Legislative Yuan to let the budget be referred to the Defense Committee for review immediately if the party feels that the people wish to see the budget approved. "Defense issues are above partisan interests, and the KMT should deal with these with the public interest in mind rather than being hold hostage by the PFP," Lai said.
The KMT and PFP command a slim majority in the legislature and have joined hands in the Rules Committee to block the budget bill 30 times in the last two years.
The United Daily News said in a story Monday that the KMT under newly elected chairman Ma Ying-jeou is mulling softening its opposition to parry the DPP's criticism that it opposes the arms purchase budget simply because it is an opposition party.
Under the KMT's plan, the paper said, it should favor the purchase of anti-submarine aircraft and submarines as long as they are financed by the Defense Ministry's regular budget, but not the purchase of Patriot missiles before the Executive Yuan comes up with explanations to bypass the referendum result. However, the paper said, the KMT cannot afford to part ways with the PFP now when it still needs the latter's cooperation in the year-end elections.
Therefore, the paper said, the KMT is planning to modify its approach to the budget after the year-end elections.
(By Maubo Chang)
ENDITEM/mw
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