Ma and Soong agree on stalled arms package

At a press conference after their meeting at the Taipei Youth Activity Center, the two opposition party chairmen said Taiwan should not buy over-priced weapons and equipment.

At the same time, Soong said, Taiwan should make clear to the United States it is determined to defend itself against attacks from China.

“On the other hand,” Soong pointed out, “the United States should show a corresponding determination.”

Ma said Taiwan should not be forced to choose from among the three types of armament. “So long as we can maintain our adequate defense capability, we should be compelled to go round and round about those three types,” he added.

President George W. Bush authorized the US$18 billion sales of eight diesel submarines, three Patriot ground-to-air missile batteries, and 12 P-3C anti-submarine helicopters more than four years ago.

The price has been reduced to US$12 billion, and the Ministry of National Defense has submitted a special appropriation bill for the purchase to the Legislative Yuan, which agreed to act on it Tuesday.

Opposition lawmakers are determined to reject the tabling of the bill for action in a plenary session today.

Soong said why Taiwan should buy the eight submarines at US$1 billion, while they are available for only US$300 million. The price has been blown too much, he complained.

“Our two parties,” Soong went on, “believe Taiwan needs a self-defense capability. But the Americans should also know if they want to help us defend ourselves why we could not buy new weapons and should buy the old ones instead.”

By that Soong meant Washington’s corresponding determination.

Ma and Soong were also agreed on the nomination of Control Yuan members.

The opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan has refused to act on the nomination by President Chen of 27 members of the nation’s highest watchdog body.

As a result, the Control Yuan has remained idle since last Feb. 1.

The two leaders said the Control Yuan members should be named in the same way the candidates for the National Communications Commission were nominated.

NCC candidates were named by political parties that are represented in the Legislative Yuan on the basis of their seat holdings. The larger holdings resulted in a larger number of candidates named.

After the nomination by the parties, President Chen would choose among the nominees, and the chosen candidates are subject to confirmation by the Legislative Yuan.

Still another agreement Ma and Soong reached was over the formation of a new Cabinet.

They were against President Chen’s plan to give a number of portfolios to “pan-blue” leaders.

“First and foremost,” Ma said, “we have to set up a system.”

He meant the ruling party and the opposition, which controls a majority of one in the Legislative Yuan, on fundamental policy, China policy in particular.

“We should then tackle the problem of personnel (in the Cabinet),” said Ma.

Above all, both Ma and Soong emphasized, trust has to be established between the governing party and the opposition. Without trust, there can be no cooperation.

That trust is hard to come by, while the president is headhunting or press-ganging, Ma added.

The Kuomintang chairman referred to Chen’s attempt to get Wang Jin-pyng, president of the Legislative Yuan, to head a new Cabinet.

Wang, a former Kuomintang vice chairman, has gone on the record that he does not want to be appointed premier.

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