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OPPOSITION SHOULD MAKE CLEAR ITS STANCE ON ARMS PURCHASE PLAN: DPP

ROC Central News Agency

2005-12-17 16:14:05

    Taipei, Dec. 17 (CNA) A ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator said Saturday that the opposition parties should express their real stance regarding the arms procurement plan so that the administration can make necessary changes.

    Lee Wen-chung, a co-convener of the Legislative Yuan's National Defense Committee, made the appeal following President Chen Shui-bian's remarks earlier in the day that the country's defense spending would be increased to 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2008 to boost Taiwan's defense capability.

    Noting that President Chen has on many occasions stated his intention to boost the country's defense spending, Lee urged the president to show determination in implementing his promise.

    To his understanding, Lee said, if defense spending is to be raised to 3 percent of GDP by 2008, then the annual military budget needs to be increased by NT$50 billion (US$1.49 billion) for each of the next three years, which he urged the government to do.

    Lee said that although it is the executive branch's responsibility to list the budget, the opposition parties, which hold a slight majority in the legislature, should state clearly their stance regarding the arms purchase package, namely whether they want it listed in the regular annual budget or scrapped altogether.

    The original arms procurement bill called for the purchase of the three items in the package -- -- 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 -- to be financed through a special budget.

    The Executive Yuan has since made changes to the bill, which now calls for the six Patriot anti-missile batteries to be financed via the defense ministry's regular annual budget.

    However, President Chen noted, the opposition parties have continued to block the bill from being placed on the legislature's agenda.

    Lee expressed concerns that the fact that the bill has been stalled in the legislature for so long may make it more difficult to convince the United States and other countries to sell the island weapons in the future.

(By Elisa Kao)

ENDITEM/Li