The US arms package for Taiwan announced by Washington last week did not jeopardize cross-strait relations, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday, promising to maintain proper defensive capabilities while promoting peace across the Taiwan Strait.
US President Barack Obama on Wednesday notified the US Congress of a US$5.85 billion arms package to Taiwan that did not include the 66 F-16C/D aircraft Taipei desires and centered instead on upgrading its existing fleet of aging F-16A/Bs.
Beijing has condemned the latest arms package, but did not announce any retaliatory steps.
Ma defended the government’s moves in seeking the arms package and said the efforts did not signal any intention to engage in an arms race with China.
“The US arms sale to Taiwan did not jeopardize cross-strait relations and we did not put all our eggs in one basket. We are negotiating a free-trade agreement with Singapore and signed an investment pact with Japan,” Ma told a youth supporters’ group in Sindian District (新店), New Taipei City (新北市).
Ma said the US government has notified Congress of US$18.3 billion in weapons sales to Taiwan since he came into office in May 2008, referring to arms packages October 2008 and January last year, as well as the one announced last week.
“In the process of seeking US arms sales to Taiwan, we signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement [ECFA] with mainland China and our actions to maintain necessary defensive capabilities have not caused tensions across the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
Ma, who is seeking a second term in January, also promised to carry out policies aimed at employment, education and housing issues that concern the nation’s younger generations.
Meeting Facebook supporters in Taipei later in the day, Ma promised to implement a typhoon-day policy next year.
The Ma administration last month proposed a paid “typhoon day” for people with children, so that in areas where a typhoon day is declared for schools, but not for offices, parents can have the day off to take care of their children.
The policy, which was proposed last month after some parents complained about the government’s failure to grant them paid leave when a typhoon day had been declared for schools, would be implemented next year, the president said, stressing the government’s effort to address public issues.
“This is not a big issue, but it would make people uncomfortable if we failed to address it ... We will carry out the policy while trying not to affect businesses,” Ma said.
He brushed aside concerns about the government’s attempt to please voters ahead of the presidential and legislative elections and insisted that his administration would not take public opinion for granted.
‘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
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
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the