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NO CONSIDERATION OF PRESIDENCY IN ARMS STANCE: KMT HEAD

ROC Central News Agency

2005-10-08 19:37:47

    Taipei, Oct. 8 (CNA) Opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou claimed Saturday that his party supports "reasonable" arms procurements and will not consider the issue from the point of view of a possible future ruling party.

    Ma was responding to media reports that KMT staff recently proposed in a report on the party's response to the controversial arms procurement package that Ma consider the necessity of arms procurement from the angle of a "para-ruling party" head.

    Ma said on the sidelines of a trip to Yunlin County to call on KMT Legislator Chang Li-shan, that the long-standing stance of the party has been to support reasonable arms procurements, adding that this is the mainstream party view.

    As to what constitutes "reasonable" arms procurements, Ma said only that he has to listen to the voices from all quarters and that "the KMT legislative caucus has been working on an integration process with its ally parties," and the KMT will publicize the result after the integration process completes.

    On a reported suggestion that he consider the issue from the angle of the next leader of the nation, Ma said the time-span for the arms procurement is up to 15 years, which covers more than just one presidential term, and for this reason, the presidency term will not be a factor.

    He said that arms procurements have to take into consideration Taiwan's defense needs and the maintenance of the necessary deterrent force, as well as the government's financial situation.

    The package refers to the purchase of three big-ticket weaponry items -- eight diesel-electric submarines, six Patriot PAC -III anti-missile batteries and a squadron of 12 anti-submarine P-3C aircraft -- from the United States. For more than a year, the opposition "pan-blue alliance" of the KMT and the People First Party (PFP) has used its slim majority in the legislature to stonewall the review of the package.

    Ma's staff suggested that the missiles should continue to be blocked, noting that a national referendum held simultaneously with the 2004 presidential election nixed the proposal and that the same proposal could not be posed within three years, while the submarines and anti-submarine planes can be included in the national defense budget starting from 2007.

    In the 2004 referendum, the question of whether Taiwan should step up national defense faced with Beijing's missile threat was considered invalid because fewer than half of the eligible voters voted, although over 90 percent of those who did vote answered in the affirmative.

    In this way, Ma's staff reasoned, it will avoid being smeared by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party for showing no concern for national security and will also avoid being taken hostage by the PFP, which has emerged as the consistent opponent to the arms deal after reports that the KMT might cave in and reconsider its opposition stance.

    The PFP has said it opposes listing the arms procurement under a special budget, and that as long as it is listed under the regular budget, there is no reason for the party to oppose it.

(By Lilian Wu)

ENDITEM/J