AIT HEAD'S ARMS SALES REMARKS A REITERATION OF U.S. POSITION: OFFICIAL
ROC Central News Agency
2006-10-27 11:51:16
Washington, Oct. 26 (CNA) The latest call by an American Institute in Taiwan official urging Taiwan to pass the budget for its arms procurement from the United States is only a reiteration of Washington's long-standing position, a U.S. State Department official said Thursday.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack made the comment during a daily press briefing when asked if the call by Stephen Young, director of the AIT's Taipei office, indicates any new policy on the U.S. side. "I can't tell you the particular reason for the timing of Mr. Young's remarks, only that it is, as you noted, a reiteration of what we have urged those authorities to do over a period of time, " McCormack said.
In Taipei Thursday, Young called for Taiwan's Legislative Yuan to pass during its current session the long-stalled budget for an arms procurement package covering diesel-powered submarines, submarine-hunting aircraft and Patriot PAC-III anti-missile batteries.
Earlier in September, a Pentagon official in charge of arms sales to Taiwan told the Central News Agency that the Taiwan legislature's attitude toward the arms procurement budget this autumn would be decisive to the future development of U.S.-Taiwan relations.
The official said that based on its understanding of the political situation in Taiwan, the United States has waited patiently over the past three years for Taiwan to sort out the differences between the ruling and opposition parties over the arms procurement package.
However, the United States cannot wait forever, the official said.
(By Chiehyu Lin and Y.F. Low)
ENDITEM/Li
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