Taiwan president offers to brief MPs on arms deal

By Alice Hung

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, under
pressure from Washington to pass an arms package blocked by
opposition lawmakers, offered on Thursday to deliver a report
in parliament to seek support for the $11 billion special
budget.

It is unprecedented for the president to present policy in
parliament. Under Taiwan’s complicated political system, the
president is the head of the state who appoints a premier, who
in turn delivers government policies to the parliament.

Even though the government slashed the arms budget from $18
billion to $15 billion and finally to $11 billion, the
opposition parties, with a slim majority in parliament, said
the advanced weapons were still too expensive, unnecessary and
against the people’s wishes.

“I am willing to personally deliver a report on the arms
deal that is related to national security and cross-Strait
peace in parliament,” Chen told a forum attended by parliament
speaker Wang Jin-pyng and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, who
doubles as the chairman of the main opposition Nationalist
Party, or Kuomintang.

China views Taiwan as a breakaway province and has
threatened to attack the democratic island if it pushes for
formal statehood. Many security analysts see the Taiwan Strait
as one of Asia’s most dangerous flashpoints.

The arms deal had been the main focus of Chen’s meetings
with U.S. officials during his brief stopover in the United
States last month.

WORRIES IN WASHINGTON

Chen had made a similar offer in the past but the
opposition parties demanded that he should also answer
questions as well, which Chen rejected.

Chen’s office said they have yet to work out details of the
president’s proposal and it is not clear whether he will be
willing to answer questions this time.

The special budget is earmarked for eight diesel-electric
submarines and 12 P-3C Orion anti-submarine aircraft.

The government dropped six anti-missile Patriot Advanced
Capability-3 batteries from the deal, although it still plans
to buy the systems using the defense ministry’s regular budget.

The United States first offered the arms deal in 2001 in
what would be the biggest arms deal in a decade.

The delay has fueled worries in Washington that Taipei is
not serious about its own defense. The United States recognizes
Beijing’s “one China” policy but is also obliged by the Taiwan
Relations Act to help Taipei defend itself.

U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency director Edward
Ross has said the arms package has become a “political
football” in Taiwan and warned that Washington may not come to
Taiwan’s aid if the island cannot defend itself.

In the past Chen has emphasized the threat from China,
pointing to double-digit growth of its military budget and the
positioning of up to 730 missiles aimed at Taiwan, as
highlighted recently in the Pentagon’s annual report on China’s
military.