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PRESIDENT CHALLENGES KMT CHAIRMAN OVER ARMS PROCUREMENT BILL

ROC Central News Agency

2006-11-02 13:24:43

    Taipei, Nov. 2 (CNA) Opposition party leaders, particularly Kuomintang Chairman Ma Ying-jeou, have a responsibility to press for the passage of the long-stalled arms procurement bill, President Chen Shui-bian said Thursday.

    Chen said that Ma, as the leader of the largest opposition party in the legislature, has the ability and the responsibility to allow the arms procurement package that was approved by U.S. President George W. Bush in 2001 to be debated and passed by the legislature soon. "If we miss the opportunity (to procure the U.S. weapon systems), there won't be anyone who will be able to afford to bear the historic responsibility, " Chen said in a speech delivered at a ceremony held at the Suao naval base in northeastern Yilan County to commission two newly acquired Kidd-class destroyers into service Thursday.

    He said the recent call by American Institute in Taiwan Taipei Office Director Stephen Young for Taiwan to pass the budget for the purchase of three major weapon systems from the United States by the end of this year was made out of sincere goodwill. "We can't afford to turn a deaf ear to Young's remarks, and we should not respond to them with irrational rhetoric either, " he added.

    Chen offered his appreciation again to the U.S. government for approving in 2003 the sale of four mothballed Kidd-class destroyers to Taiwan to help beef up Taiwan's defense capability.

    The four Kidd-class destroyers, two of which were delivered last December and were commissioned into service earlier this year, now form the backbone of the ROC Navy's fleet.

    The destroyers -- featuring advanced missiles, three-dimensional radar, and superb air-defense, anti-submarine and battlefield management capabilities -- are almost on par with the Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers, which is built around the Aegis combat system, in terms of combat capability, ROC Navy officials said.

    Taiwan struck a deal with the United States in 2003 on procuring the four Kidd-class destroyers at a cost of NT$24 billion. The ships were built in the late 1970s for Iran but were later mothballed after the deal was canceled amid souring U.S.-Iran relations.

    After taking delivery of the first two of the four Kidd-class destroyers -- christened the "Keelung" and the "Suao, " the ROC Navy accepted the third and fourth warships -- the "Makung" and the "Tsoyin" -- on Oct. 25 after the two vessels made a 52-day voyage across the Pacific Ocean.

    The "Makung" and "Tsoyin" departed from Charleston, South Carolina Sept. 3, making logistics stops at U.S. naval bases in Hawaii and Guam before reaching the Suao naval base

    Navy officials said the ROC Navy takes great pride in taking delivery of the four Kidd-class destroyers in the shortest possible period of time and at the lowest possible cost.

    The naval personnel aboard the two destroyers have taken part in the vessels' demothballing and received rigorous training in equipment maintenance and weaponry systems operations during their nearly two-year stay at a shipyard in Charleston, South Carolina.

(By Deborah Kuo)

ENDITEM/Li