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CHEN URGES EARLY REVIEW OF ARMS PROCUREMENT FOR SAKE OF THE NATION

ROC Central News Agency

2005-10-20 18:20:47

    Taipei, Oct. 2 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian on Thursday urged the Legislative Yuan to review the arms procurement package as soon as possible, saying that continued boycotting of the package by the opposition will put the future of Taiwan in jeopardy.

    President Chen reaffirmed the importance of the arms procurement package from the United States when he received representatives of overseas Chinese associations from the United States. The package has been stalled in the legislature for more than a year due to the opposition of "pan-blue alliance" of the Kuomintang (KMT) and the People First Party.

    The package includes eight diesel-electric submarines, a squadron of 12 P-3C anti-submarine aircraft and six Patriot PAC-III anti-missile batteries.

    The president said lasting peace in the Taiwan Strait will rely on the democratization of China, the goodwill of China toward Taiwan and the strengthening of Taiwan's self-defense capabilities, although the first two things are not within Taiwan's control.

    He criticized the opposition parties for basing national security on the goodwill of the nation's enemies, saying that individuals' political gambling on public security will put the future of the nation in jeopardy.

    The president said the most likely flashpoints in the Asia-Pacific region are the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait, adding that the dispute across the Taiwan Strait is not an internal affair as claimed by China, but will directly impact peace, stability and safety of the whole region.

    The president stressed that the international community is in lock-step that the status quo of the Taiwan Strait should not be unilaterally changed and that cross-strait disputes should be solved by peaceful means.

    He said that the arms procurement project, which is crucial to upgrading military equipment and combat readiness, has been stonewalled for 33 times in a row in the legislature because of the boycott of the "pan-blue alliance" on various grounds, such as the price is too high, the items do not meet needs of the nation's defense, and that the money should not be listed in a special budget, but in the regular one.

    However, he called these reasons "far-fetched, " adding that if there are differences on these issues, they should be put to the legislative defense committee for substantial review, instead of excluding them from the working agenda over and over.

    This has highlighted the nature of "opposing for opposition's sake" of the "pan-blue alliance," he said.

    The president said that another reason given by the "pan-blue alliance" comes from KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou, who has said that the government should actively pursue cross-strait peace, and not to engage in an arms race with the other side of the Taiwan Strait. This, however, is a "deliberate attempt to pit Taiwan Strait peace against the strengthening of national defense, and to deny the needs of Taiwan to upgrade combat readiness," Chen said.

    The president stressed that national security should be the "common language" across the party spectrum, and that the public "should not take chances" on this issue.

(By Lilian Wu)

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