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DEFENSE BUDGET TO BE BOOSTED TO 3% OF GDP BY 2008: PRESIDENT

ROC Central News Agency

2005-12-17 13:22:00

    Taipei, Dec. 17 (CNA) The nation's defense spending will be increased to 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2008 as part of the government's efforts to boost Taiwan's defense capability, President Chen Shui-bian said Saturday. "This is our goal. It is also a key administrative priority which we must do our best to achieve, " the president said while commissioning two Kidd-class frigates for the Navy. The "1801 Keelung" and "1802 Suao" destroyers, named after two northern Taiwan ports, arrived from the United States Dec. 8.

    Chen also used the occasion to voice his frustration, again, at the legislature's failure to pass his government's special budget bill for purchasing major weapons from the U.S.

    The president said he is concerned that the budget proposal for buying eight conventional submarines, 12 anti-submarine aircraft and six Patriot-III anti-missile batteries has been stalled in the Legislative Yuan for so long. "What will we do if some day other countries decide not to sell us weapons?" he asked. "This is an issue that everyone of us must think about, " he added.

    He said the administration has followed the people's suggestion by shifting some of the special budget for the arms procurement into the defense ministry's regular annual budget, but the legislature still hasn't passed it. "What should we (in the government) do to satisfy the legislature? Please give me clear instructions so that the executive branch can make changes to the budget plan," he added.

    He said the budget bill has been blocked from being put on the legislative agenda 41 times, causing international concerns that Taiwan seems unconcerned about its own defense.

    He called on all sectors of Taiwan society to "return to reasonable discussion, " after the heated "three-in-one" local election campaigns, about issues related to national security and peace across the Taiwan Strait.

    The legislature should at least allow the National Defense Committee to discuss the arms purchase proposal, he said.

    The NT$480 billion budget bill for buying the three major weapons items has been reduced to NT$340 billion for two items, with the third item to be financed by the defense ministry's regular annual budget.

(By S.C. Chang)

ENDITEM/Li