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Updated Tuesday, April 8, 2008 0:00 am TWN, CNA

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Taiwan looks forward to buying fighters from U.S.

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan’s lawmakers and the military are looking forward to purchasing 66 F-16 C/D fighters from the United States for the Republic of China Air Force, despite their disagreement over why the proposed deal, reportedly approved by Washington in 2006, has failed to materialize.

Deputy Defense Minister Ko Cheng-heng told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee that premature exposure of the deal and pressure from Beijing are the most likely reasons why the U.S. government has hesitated in giving the go-ahead for the sale.

Ko said that an answer obtained from the U.S. State Department about the proposed armed deal is that the decision is now up to the U.S. president.

Opposition Kuomintang Legislator Lin Yu-fang, a co convener of the committee, disagreed with Ko’s explanation.

He said the U.S. government was having second thoughts on the deal mainly because it was displeased with President Chen Shui-bian’s obstinacy in pushing a national referendum on using the name of “Taiwan” to enter the United Nations.

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