NO ABNORMALITY IN TAIWAN-U.S. MILITARY EXCHANGES: MND
ROC Central News Agency
2006-11-02 20:13:46
Taipei, Nov. 2 (CNA) Military exchanges between Taiwan and the United States remain "business as usual" without any hitches or abnormalities, Ministry of National Defense (MND) spokesman Wu Chi-fang said Thursday.
Wu made the remarks after the U.S. State Department denied Tuesday allegations that Washington has suspended some military exchange programs with Taiwan as a result of the Taiwan legislature's stonewalling of a controversial arms procurement bill.
In reply to a Taiwan journalist's query as to whether the allegations were true, the U.S. State Department said on its official Web site that "there is no change in U.S. policy regarding Taiwan's security."
Commenting on the State Department statement, Wu said Defense Minister Lee Jye indeed mentioned earlier this week that a planned Taiwan-U.S. arms conference had been postponed, probably to next year, because of the legislature's procrastination in passing the arms procurement bill. Apart from that, Wu said, overall Taiwan-U.S. military exchanges remain normal without disruption or suspension.
Stressing that every item included in the arms bill pending legislative approval meets the country's defense needs and combat requirements, Wu said the MND keenly hopes the opposition-controlled legislature will pass the bill as soon as possible to demonstrate Taiwan's determination to safeguard its own national security in the face of China's ever-mounting military threat.
The plan to procure eight diesel-electric submarines, six Patriot PAC III anti-missile batteries and a squadron of 12 submarine-hunting P-3C aircraft is by no means the "spendthrift deal" claimed by critics, according to Wu, who added that Taiwan's interests could be at stake if its relations with the United States were to be affected by the stalled arms bill.
(By Sofia Wu)
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