KMT’s arms stance not viewed on future presidency: Ma

Ma made the remarks in response to press reports that KMT staff recently proposed that Ma consider the necessity of arms procurement from the angle of a “would-be ruling party” head.

Ma said on the sidelines of a trip to Yunlin County to call on KMT Legislator Chang Li-shan, that it has been KMT’s long-standing stance to support reasonable arms procurements, adding that this is the mainstream party view.

When asked to define the “reasonable” arms procurements, Ma said only that he has to listen to the voices from all quarters and that “the KMT legislative caucus has been working on an integration process with its ally parties.” Ma said that KMT will publicize the result after the integration process is completed.

In response to a reported suggestion that he consider the issue from the angle of the next leader of the nation, Ma said the time-span for the arms procurement is up to 15 years, which covers more than just one presidential term, and for this reason, the presidency term will not be a factor.

He said that arms procurements have to take into consideration Taiwan’s defense needs and the maintenance of the necessary deterrent force, as well as the government’s financial situation.

The arms procurement package refers to the purchase of three big-ticket weaponry items — eight

diesel-electric submarines, six Patriot PAC -III anti-missile batteries and a squadron of 12 anti submarine P-3C aircraft — from the United States. For more than a year, the opposition “pan-blue alliance” of the KMT and the People First Party (PFP) has used its slim majority in the legislature to stonewall the review of the package.

Also yesterday, KMT lawmakers denied reports that the party is considering dropping its opposition to the government’s controversial arms procurement package from the United States.

Members of a KMT panel studying the arms procurement plan, who include Shuai Hua-min, Ting Shou-chung and Su Chi, said the group has not met lately and that the party has not made a final decision as to how it will deal with the package.

Ting noted that the above-mentioned three weapons are unnecessary in light of the cross-Taiwan Strait and international situations. He stressed that whether the KMT will support the arms procurement plan is not related to whether it will return to power.

Meanwhile, opposition People First Party (PFP) legislative caucus convener Huang Yi-chiao said the PFP will remain opposed to the arms procurement plan as long as it is financed by a special budget instead of the regular annual budget.

Huang said the KMT would be making a “serious mistake” if it were to consider the issue from the perspective of whether it will return to power.

Meanwhile, William Lai, the leader of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party legislative caucus, said the report, if proven true, would indicate that the KMT is ready to continue to delay the arms procurement.

DPP Lawmaker Lee Wen-chung warned that Taiwan might have problems obtaining the weapons if the opposition parties continue to block the procurement plan.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email