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ARMS PROCUREMENT PACKAGE SHOULD BE DEALT WITH AFTER APRIL: PFP HEAD

ROC Central News Agency

2006-02-03 19:33:10

    Taipei, Feb. 3 (CNA) Opposition People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong said Friday that the Legislative Yuan should not deal with the arms procurement package until after April.

    Soong made his stance known on the sidelines of a Lunar New Year gathering of the PFP.

    He said the party should wait until new Premier Su Tseng-chang makes the administrative report to the Legislative Yuan and clearly states his administration's stance on cross-Taiwan Strait relations and the arms procurement package before dealing with the issue.

    The opposition "plan-blue alliance" of the Kuomintang (KMT) and the PFP enjoys a slim majority in the legislature and has blocked the budget bill for a government plan to buy three big-ticket weapons from the United States, including eight diesel-electric submarines, six Patriot PAC III anti-missile batteries and 12 submarine-hunting P-3C aircraft for more than a year.

    Noting that Chinese President Hu Jintao will visit the United States in April, Soong predicted that Hu's visit could affect cross-strait relations, as well as arms procurement package. "For these reasons, the legislature should not consider the arms project until after April," Soong said.

    He also claimed that the PFP will not oppose for opposition's sake and will not rule out discussing the matter with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and the KMT.

    On a KMT plan to submit its own version of the arms procurement project, Soong said "there is room for discussion" but he added that the project should not be initiated by the opposition, saying that the duty of the opposition is to find fault with the existing proposed arms procurement package.

    He said the policy of arms procurements should be made through a democratic mechanism, which means that the legislature should decide, adding that the Ministry of National Defense can give its professional views but it is the legislature that should make the final judgment.

    Taiwan should maintain independent national security but should not forge with other countries or be turned into a base for such a military alliance, Soong said, adding that a non-alliance status is in Taiwan's best interests.

(By Lilian Wu)

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