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President defends 'private channel' for arms procurement

ROC Central News Agency

2008-02-24 17:31:59

    Taipei, Feb. 24 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Sunday that there are precedents in foreign countries to make arms procurements via privately run companies.

    Chen said Taiwan faces difficulties seeking to obtain advanced arms or weaponry systems from industrially advanced countries via official channels, given the country's constrained diplomatic situation.

    The president made the remarks in an indirect response to the resignation the day before of Minister of National Defense Lee Tien-yu over the controversy surrounding the formation of the private arms firm Taiwan Goal in the wake of heavy and lengthy complaints by opposition Kuomintang (KMT) legislators. The KMT legislators questioned the legitimacy of Taiwan Goal, which was established with public funds but will be beyond the control of the Ministry of National Defense and the legislature.

    Lee said in a news release posted on the Ministry of National Defense Web site a day earlier that he had set his mind on implementing the nation's defense policy and upgrading its defense capability ever since assuming the post last May. "Although I was instructed to establish Taiwan Goal, I have failed to carry out the plan properly and have caused misgivings among the public about the project, for which I have to step down," Lee's statement said.

    The president made the remarks during a visit to Chen I-chiu, a former presidential adviser appointed by Chen in 2001, in the southern county of Kaohsiung, according to Chen I-chiu's family.

    Chen I-chiu was quoted by his family as having asked the president about how the government will help China-based Taiwanese businessmen relocate their investments back to Taiwan from China now that the Chinese government has imposed new, stricter regulations governing taxation, environmental and labor conditions.

    The president said it is only natural that Taiwanese businessmen would choose to return home from China in the wake of the change in the investment climate there.

(By Deborah Kuo)

ENDITEM/J