Pan-blues block arms deal citing Powell's comments

The statute governing the arms deal with the US failed to pass the Procedure Committee yesterday as the pan-blue camp claimed they objected to the statute in response to US Secretary of State Colin Powell's statement that "Taiwan is not a sovereign state," and the meeting ended in confusion as the lawmakers from the two camps threw their lunch boxes and other items at each other to vent their frustration.

The pan-blue camp lawmakers boycotted the statute yesterday, saying that if Powell does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state, then Taiwan should refrain from buying weapons from the US.

While the Cabinet put forward its version of the statute for consideration yesterday, the People First Party (PFP) caucus withdrew its version as a protest to Powell's comments.

PFP caucus whip Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) proposed in the committee yesterday to put the Cabinet's version of the statute aside temporarily, and asked the Cabinet to revise the statute.

"I suggest the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) revise its version to withdraw all arms deals with the US. If the US does not acknowledge [Taiwan] as a sovereign state, we should not buy any weapons from the US," Liu said when commenting officially on the bills arranged to be reviewed in the committee yesterday.

While Liu was making the statement, several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers chanted, "Powell doesn't love Taiwan," and "We are not intimidated."

In the end, the pan-blue camp again got its way with its majority in the committee, but the meeting ended in chaos after KMT Legislator Chu Fung-chih (朱鳳芝) and DPP Legislator Chen Tsung-yi (陳宗義) escalated their quarrel with a barrage of flying lunch boxes, paper cups and notebooks.

Chu and KMT Legislator Hung Shiu-chu (洪秀柱) were mocking Chen as someone without lam pa (balls) during the session, and in the end Chu lost his cool and started to throw things -- including his lunch boxes -- at Chen.

Chen threw things back, but shortly after the exchange DPP caucus whip Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) demanded that caucus members leave the session to protest the pan-blue's boycott. The session then ended amid chaos.

Meanwhile, Vice Minister of National Defense Lei Kuang-shu (雷光墅) also visited Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday morning to seek support for the statute, but Wang told Lei that the statute would not be approved in the committee this week, and it should wait until next week.

While the PFP boycotted the statute in protest of Powell's speech, the KMT caucus used the chance to warn the public against independence.

"Taiwan's independence is a dead-end, and it may bring disaster for Taiwan," KMT caucus whip Huang Teh-fu (黃德福) said earlier in the morning.

"The KMT insists that the ROC is an independent country, and we object to the international powerhouse's arrangement for Taiwan's future. Taiwan's future should be decided by its 23 million people," Huang said.

Meanwhile, both the DPP and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) said they were upset by Powell's comments.

"The DPP caucus cannot accept Powell's talk, which is unfaithful to the facts. We have to make grave protests against it. So far there is no other country that can exercise its administrative power in Taiwan. So if Taiwan is not a sovereign state, what is Taiwan?" Tsai said.

TSU expressed similar sentiment and said that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) should stop being ambiguous about Taiwan's sovereignty and instead explain this clearly to international society.