President reaffirms commitment to U.S. arms procurement
ROC Central News Agency
2011/11/26 22:04:15
Taipei, Nov. 26 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou has reaffirmed his commitment to Taiwan's continued procurement of defensive weapons from the United States to protect national security.
"If I'm re-elected, I'll continue to procure defensive arms from the U.S. to ensure our national security," Ma said in an interview on the BBC's Chinese-language website on Friday.
Stressing that Taiwan's procurement policy is not aimed at an arms race with China, Ma said Taiwan will only buy weapons that are needed to defend its own security and that it cannot produce by itself.
In addition, Ma said he will continue to promote rapprochement with China if he is re-elected.
"Cross-strait peace can help guarantee our national security," he said.
Moreover, he said, Taiwan will continue to contribute to international society, which he said is an effective way to safeguard Taiwan's security.
In the interview, Ma also touted the benefits Taiwan has reaped from the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) that his administration signed with mainland China in June 2010.
He said Taiwan's old economy sectors such as agriculture, petrochemical and ready-to-wear industries have all benefited from the ECFA which is patterned after free trade agreements signed between many other countries.
Rebutting opposition politicians' criticism that the Kuomintang administration has solely focused on boosting trade with China, Ma said that while cross-Taiwan Strait trade has increased over the past few years, the share of Taiwan's shipment to China has remained at around 40 percent of its total exports because its sales to the U.S. and European countries have increased as well.
In the interview, Ma also said all claims about Beijing backing his re-election bid were not accurate.
"All such allegations came from my election rivals, but none of them were able to come up with evidence to back their claims," he said.
Ma further renewed his call for Beijing to dismantle ballistic missiles targeted at Taiwan as early as possible, noting that Beijing's missile deployment was detrimental to the development of cross-strait relations.
The missile deployment is also one of the main reasons behind the aversion of Taiwan's people to the Beijing government, he said.
Responding to a question on whether he can talk Beijing into removing missiles targeted at Taiwan if he is re-elected, Ma said Beijing should be fully aware of the feelings of Taiwan's people.
"I see no need to negotiate this issue. It should take the initiative to do that," Ma said. He further asked: "Is Beijing kind to me when it has missiles targeting me?"
In an interview with the BBC on Thursday, opposition Democratic Progressive Party chairwoman and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen said she was open to the possibility of visiting China as long as Beijing does not set any unreasonable conditions.
In contrast, Ma still insisted on his previous stance that if re-elected, he would not visit mainland China to meet with its top leader during his second four-year term.
Asked about his views on China's incoming leaders such as Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, Ma said he has some knowledge of them, but he added that no matter how the composition of Beijing's government changed, its new leaders would support the basic framework for peaceful cross-strait development.
Ma also denied that Tsai had moved past him in the polls as the DPP has claimed in recent days. He said internal KMT polls had him steadily rising, and he expressed complete confidence that he would emerge victorious in the Jan. 14, 2012 poll. (By Charles Kang and Sofia Wu) enditem/pc/ls
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