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President reiterates need for U.S. arms deal to visiting delegation

ROC Central News Agency

Taipei, Aug. 11 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou reiterated Taiwan's firm desire to buy defensive weapons from the United States to a visiting U.S. congressional delegation Monday, the country's latest attempt to ease Washington's concerns over a pending arms deal.

Ma made the remarks after media reports recently quoted a ruling Kuomintang (KMT) lawmaker as saying after a visit to the U.S. Congress that the U.S. is highly suspicious of Ma's stance on the weapons deal.

Legislator Lin Yu-fang disclosed on July 31 that the U.S. suspicion stems from Ma's recent efforts to repair relations with China, which claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan.

Ma's administration opened Taiwan to direct weekend charter flights from China and more Chinese tourists from July 4. The president also plans to allow Taiwanese chipmakers to relocate 12-inch wafer plants to China.

Ma told the delegation at the Presidential Office, however, that Taiwan's moves to thaw ties with China will not affect Taiwan's weapons procurement from the U.S.

Taiwan had submitted a procurement list to the U.S. as early as last year, Ma said, adding that he hopes the U.S. would soon begin the necessary legal procedures to push for passage of the US$11 billion arms deal, that includes Patriot PAC-III missile batteries, Apache and Black Hawk helicopters, and diesel electric submarines.

Meanwhile, Ma said Taiwan needs to demonstrate the will to defend itself and that its defense budget will be maintained at no less than 3 percent of the country's GDP.

China deploys more than 1,000 missiles targeting Taiwan.

Ma also said that since he took office on May 20, his administration has been working to improve ties with the U.S.

He continued that Taipei's efforts to improve ties with Beijing marks another important step in Taipei's efforts to warm up ties with the U.S.

He said the confrontational positions between Taiwan and China in the past have also affected Taiwan-U.S. relations and cited U.S. President George W. Bush as publicly noting previously that he was pleased to see an improvement in the cross-Taiwan Strait relations.

Moreover, Ma said that he rarely saw such a large-scale U.S. congressional delegation visit Taiwan in recent years and that many members of the delegation were visiting Taiwan for the first time.

He said he believes the delegation from the U.S. Congress' Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will help the congress better understand Taiwan and looks forward to meeting more congressional delegations in the future. (By T.C. Jiang)