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MND pooh-poohs reported US suggestion

A Ministry of National Defense official yesterday said that completing the long-stalled purchase of a US arms package from the ministry's normal annual budget, instead of a special budget, was unlikely because of the government's constrained finances.

The official, who requested anonymity, was responding to a report in a Chinese-language newspaper, which said that US authorities have suggested that Taiwan can pay for the weapons out of the ministry's annual budget.

"The policy for the special arms budget has never changed. The ministry has not yet received any information from the US suggesting that Taiwan organize the arms bill into its annual budget," the official told the Central News Agency yesterday.

The NT$480 billion (US$15 billion) US arms-procurement budget would pay for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile batteries, 12 P-3C maritime patrol aircraft and eight diesel-powered submarines.

The newspaper reported that because the special arms budget has been blocked by pan-blue legislators, US government and think tank officials suggested to the ministry's Chief of the General Staff General Lee Tien-yu (李天羽), who is currently visiting the US, that the government should consider reallocating the three-item arms bill as part of the annual budget, the report said.

The US officials also urged that Taiwan raise its annual defense budget to between 3 percent to 3.5 percent of GDP.

In response, the ministry official agreed that the defense budget had been too low in recent years, accounting for only 2.4 percent of GDP this year. As a result, it would be difficult to pay for the NT$480 billion arms bill from the ministry's annual budget without a significant -- and unlikely -- budget increase.

If the government boosts the defense budget to 3 percent of GDP, it would be able to spend an additional NT$70 billion per year.

According to the newspaper report, a military official said if the government had these additional funds, it could probably purchase the PAC-3 missile batteries and 12 P-3C maritime patrol aircraft from the regular budget, with the costs spread over several years. However, if the price tag for the subs were added in, the total cost would be too high for the annual budget, the official said.

Vice Minister of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) Chen Ching-tsai (陳慶財) has said that the government will not be able to give the ministry a budget of 3 percent of GDP for the next five years, due to its constrained financial situation.
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