Weapons Bill Hinges on Taiwan, Envoy Says

Government of Taiwan, While the U.S. government remains mum on Taiwan's pending arms procurement bill regarding timetable, items, and price, Taiwan's Legislature should begin review of the bill as soon as possible to make the best decision concerning the security and welfare of the country, David Lee, Taiwan's representative to Washington said on Wednesday. 
 
In a report to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Legislature, Lee said that Taiwan's national defense budget has declined from 2.8 percent of total GDP in 2001 to 2.4 percent of total GDP in 2005. 
 
The envoy emphasized the importance of enhancing Taiwan's self-defense, quoting former U.S. president Ronald Reagan's “peace through strength” comment and a World War II era slogan, “Freedom is not free,” and called on Taiwan to strengthen its determination to defend itself. 
 
The arms procurement package, including six PAC III Patriot anti-missile batteries, eight diesel-fueled submarines and 12 anti-submarine aircraft, has been blocked in the Legislature for more than a year by the opposition pan-blue alliance of the Kuomintang and the People First Party which holds a slight legislative majority. 
 
Lee noted that Ed Ross, director of the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency made a remark in September on behalf of the U.S. government that due to local political factors, the special budget for arms procurement has been in a predicament and has become a “political football.” 
 
Various U.S. government officials, scholars and experts have began to question the need to defend Taiwan if a military conflict does occur in the Taiwan Strait, saying that “we cannot help defend you if you will not defend yourself,” the envoy added. 
 
In response to a question from independent Legislator Li Ao on whether the U.S. government would help defend Taiwan against a possible attack by China, Lee said that without sufficient defense capability, Taiwan's forces would not be able to hold out long enough for U.S. to come to the rescue. If a conflict were provoked by China, the chances of U.S. intervention would be higher, he added. 
 
Lee said that U.S. troops would come if Taiwan's political and economic systems remained in place, but it would be useless for them to come if the island was already in ruins. 
 
In his report, Lee placed heavy emphasis on “strengthening the determination and ability for self-defense,” saying, “Taiwan should not depend on the goodwill of the PRC authorities for its security.” 
 
He said that in order to preserve its achievements in development, freedom, democracy, and human rights and to ensure that future generations would still have freedom of choice, Taiwan would have to pay a price. Being well prepared to maintain national security is the best means of avoiding war, he said. 
 
Lee suggested that Taiwan's major political parties conduct a comprehensive and systematic assessment of the threats to national security and formulate all necessary measures to cope with such threats. 
 
Meanwhile, Premier Frank Hsieh also urged the Legislature to pass the arms procurement bill and other major bills as soon as possible as the current legislative session is set to draw to a close at the end of the month. 
 
The premier made the remarks during a Cabinet meeting, noting that if legislators have different views on the bills, they could propose revisions instead of simply boycotting them. 
 
The arms bill was once again blocked in the Legislature on Tuesday for the 41st time since it was presented to the lawmaking body in 2004. 
 
In a related development, according to a local media report, a source in Washington has said that the procurement bill might be more workable and pragmatic if the budget for the package was included in the Ministry of National Defense's regular annual budget rather than financed by a special budget as proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party government.