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Premier rejects call to close arms firm

"It is a completely private company. How can I disband a private company?"

Chang Chun-hsiung, premier

Sweeping aside growing criticism from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) over the establishment of arms company Taiwan Goal, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday defended Cabinet policy by saying that the firm would not be disbanded.

Although the government had promised to fund the company's operations, the required budget requests had not been approved by the Legislative Yuan, he said.

"It is a completely private company. How can I disband a private company? Is it possible that one day I will be asked to disband Wang Yung-ching's (王永慶) Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) or Morris Chang's (張忠謀) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電)?" Chang said during his administrative report to the legislature.

The KMT caucus had urged the premier to disband Taiwan Goal immediately, citing concerns that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) may profit from it.

The premier last week confirmed the existence of the company for the first time, adding that Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁), a stalwart of the DPP's disbanded New Tide faction, had been appointed president of the company.

Confirmation that 45 percent of the company's initial capital would come from the Ministry of National Defense prompted opposition speculation that the government was seeking to profit from Taiwan Goal and that it would be immune from legislative oversight.

The premier said yesterday that the establishment of a private arms company would enable the nation's defense industry to more easily advance its technological capabilities

The National Defense Act (國防法) and the Organic Statute of the Armaments Bureau (軍備局組織條例) both provide for government cooperation with the private sector in the defense industry, he said.

Meanwhile, Vice Minister of National Defense Lin Yu-pao (林於豹) said the timing of Taiwan Goal's establishment was "appropriate."

When approached by reporters after a KMT caucus media conference, Lin said it was appropriate to establish the company now because the nation has "so much arms procurement" to deal with.

Lin's comments were in sharp contrast to those of Armaments Bureau Director-General Wu Wei-rong (吳偉榮) on Wednesday.

Wu Wei-rong had said that it was inappropriate for the ministry to fund 45 percent of Taiwan Goal's initial capital and that establishing the company prior to the presidential election had raised public concerns.

Lin said yesterday that investing in a company like Taiwan Goal was a good policy.

He declined to comment on Wu Wei-rong's remark.

"Why can't everyone treat the policy as a major national policy?" he said.

Lin said that national defense budget requests are always subject to the supervision of the legislature, but some of the supervision is done in advance while some is done afterwards.

He said the ministry will not begin funding Taiwan Goal until a cross-departmental evaluation of the project has been completed.

At a separate setting, new KMT caucus whip Alex Fai (費鴻泰) threatened to refer those responsible for the establishment of Taiwan Goal to the Supreme Court Prosecutors' Office's special investigation panel for investigation should the ministry fail to present its evaluation report to the Cabinet within one week.

In related developments, the premier denounced KMT Legislator Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉) as "irresponsible" for calling the government's Aboriginal policy a failure.

Kung is a KMT legislator from the Atayal tribe who has also been pushing for Aboriginal autonomy.

During the state affairs forum earlier yesterday, Kung had lashed out at the DPP, urging the premier to model himself on Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and offer an apology to the nation's Aborigines for "not treating the Aborigines as human beings."

On Feb. 13, Rudd publicly apologized to Australian Aborigines on behalf of his government for their past suffering.

"Irresponsible comments like these reveal the KMT's mindset as a bullying monopoly" in the legislature, Chang Chun-hsiung said in his administrative report later yesterday.
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