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NO TIMETABLE FOR APPROVING MAJOR ARMS PROCUREMENT BILL: PFP

ROC Central News Agency

2006-01-27 16:05:59

    Taipei, Jan. 27 (CNA) The opposition People First Party (PFP) is strongly opposed to what it claims are "pork-barrel weapons purchases" and the party has no timetable for the passage of a related bill at the Legislative Yuan, PFP spokesman Hsieh Kung-ping said Friday.

    With regard to a major arms procurement bill stalled in the Legislative Yuan that would authorize the government to buy eight diesel-electric submarines, 12 P-3C anti-submarine airplanes and six Patriot PAC III anti-missile batteries from the United States, Hsieh said that the PFP insists that the disputed items and what it described as unreasonable prices must first be "corrected."

    Hsieh said that the PFP will not cave in to "such an irrational" arms procurement package and that the party has no timetable for the passage of the controversial bill.

    Commenting on the remarks made the previous week by main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou that the bill could be settled during the next legislative session scheduled to begin Feb. 21, Hsieh said that the possibility is low that the bill will clear the Legislative Yuan before its contents have been substantially modified based on a broader consensus.

    The PFP demands that the items and the procurement list submitted by the Ministry of National Defense to the Legislative Yuan must be further reviewed prior to the bill's passage, he pointed out, urging the ruling Democratic Progressive Party to make its stance clear in this regard.

    Ma said Jan. 20 that the KMT will put forth its own version of the arms procurement package by the end of February in the hope of finding common ground with the DPP on the issue and to help the bill clear the Legislative Yuan.

    Meanwhile, Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, an influential figure within the KMT, said Wednesday during a visit to Washington, D. C. that the legislature is likely to begin screening the bill in March after the KMT has proposed its version of the arms procurement package.

    The multi-billion-dollar bill has been blocked since mid-2004 by KMT and PFP lawmakers who question the need to buy what they claim are obsolete items at unreasonably expensive prices.

    The KMT, PFP and the New Party in the "pan blue alliance" maintain a slim majority in the Legislative Yuan.

(By Flor Wang)

ENDITEM/J