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Ministry to assess weapons needs from U.S.: spokesman

ROC Central News Agency

2013/04/26 17:52:11

Taipei, April 26 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense said Friday that it would assess the country's defensive weapons needs from the United States, after a U.S. congressional subcommittee passed a bill supporting the sale of advanced fighter planes to Taiwan.

Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Luo Shou-he said the ministry will carefully assess what weapons Taiwan will need to purchase from the U.S. based on the potential military threat to Taiwan to enhance the country's defense capabilities.

The subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific under the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed on Thursday the Taiwan Policy Act of 2013, which authorizes the U.S. government to sell new F-16 C/D aircraft to Taiwan.

'The legislative requirement to make available defense articles and defense services should include the provision of new F-16 C/D aircraft and upgrades of existing F-16 A/B aircraft essential to Taiwan's security,' reads the act, sponsored by Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Taiwan has long expressed interest in buying the fighter planes to bridge the growing gap in the size of its Air Force fleet and China's and modernize its arsenal.

Successive U.S. administrations have not acted on the request, with the Barack Obama administration agreeing instead in September 2011 to upgrade Taiwan's fleet of aging F-16 A/Bs.

U.S. Representative Steve Chabot, a member of the subcommittee, told reporters that the Obama administration is now considering selling Taiwan the F-16 C/D aircraft, but he declined to elaborate.

Taiwan needs to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability, and the Congress will closely watch issues related to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, Chabot said.

The act will now be sent to the House Foreign Affairs Committee for review, and if approved will be put to a vote by the full House.

For it to become law, however, it would then have to be passed by the U.S. Senate.

Aside from authorizing the sale of F-16 C/D aircraft, the act asks the U.S. government to preserve Taiwan's international space, despite outside suppression and coercion.

It calls on the U.S. to help Taiwan with meaningful participation in international organizations and permit exchange visits by officials in the U.S. and Taiwan cabinets.

The act also supports the idea of Taiwan changing the name of its representative office in the U.S. to 'Taiwan Representative Office,' from the current Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, and urges the U.S. government to respect Taiwan's right to display its flag on the premises of its representative offices.

(By Rogge Chen, Tony Liao and Jamie Wang)
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