President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday reiterated his call on the US to sell F-16C/D aircraft to Taiwan during a meeting with American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt and emphasized the importance of maintaining a balance of military strength across the Taiwan Strait.
The procurement of weapons conforms to the Taiwan Relations Act, Ma said, adding that the fighter aircraft would replace an aging fleet and would only be used for defensive purposes.
“The defense budget failed to reach 3 percent of GDP, but that budget is still more than the budget for last year ... The government will continue efforts to make sure the budget for national defense meets demands,” Ma said at the Presidential Office.
Photo: CNA
According to official figures, the defense budget last year was NT$297.4 billion (US$9.3 billion), compared with NT$297.2 billion this year. However, when asked for clarification, the Presidential Office told the Taipei Times that once subsidies for veterans’ housing and other expenditures not directly related to defense were factored in, the total budget for this year was NT$374.8 billion.
Burghardt, who arrived in Taipei on Sunday for a five-day visit, remained noncommittal on the 66 F-16C/Ds requested by Taipei and said he “didn’t come this time with any kind of special message from Washington.”
In his meeting with Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday, Burghardt said that arms sales to Taiwan would continue, while describing the fighter aircraft sale as “an old subject.”
Ma, who said Washington has remained unwilling to accept a letter of request for the F-16C/Ds, thanked the US for releasing two arms procurement packages in 2008 and last year — both leftovers from former US president George W. Bush’s administration — to help Taiwan maintain its necessary defense capabilities.
Ma also thanked the US for assisting in Taiwan’s plan to join the International Civil Aviation Organization, saying air travel was becoming increasingly important now that the number of weekly cross-strait flights has increased from 370 to 558.
He also pointed to what he referred to as achievements in improving cross-strait relations and said the two sides would address issues such as investment protection, a dispute-resolution mechanism and nuclear security in cross-strait negotiations later this year.
Commenting on January’s presidential and legislative elections, Burghardt said the AIT congratulated Taiwan for its success in developing a real democracy and said that the US remained neutral on Taiwan’s elections.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying