Douglas Paal, the AIT's Taipei director, yesterday praised Taiwan's legislature for playing a greater role in national security affairs as demonstrated in defense-budget discussions. However, he also cautioned against a potential misuse of the expanded power.
"It is a healthy sign for Taiwan's democracy that elected representatives are asking tough questions about what level of security Taiwan can afford and what Taiwan is getting in return for the taxpayers' dollars," Paal said.
"But there is a challenge for the legislature. It has to resist the temptation to use national security issues to seek partisan political interests," he said.
Paal made the remarks yesterday as he delivered a keynote address at an international conference on Chinese military affairs.
The conference was jointly held by Taiwan's Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies (CAPS) and the Rand Institute of the US.
Paal did not specify any event that illustrates his feeling that the legislature is becoming more active on defense issues. But, according to most analysts, Paal was apparently referring to the controversy surrounding the purchase of four Kidd-class destroyers from the US.
Many say that the controversy was proof of what Paal warned against in his address -- the legislature's misuse of its expanded power to seek partisan political gains.
In that incident, the opposition PFP and KMT were accused by the ruling DPP of obstructing the passage of the proposed 2003 budget for the Kidds -- the first year's downpayments on the four ships -- in an attempt to achieve political gains.
The PFP and the KMT initially combined their powers to obstruct, but they split later after differing about the reasons for their obstruction efforts.
A naval general who plays an important role in the Kidds deal, said in private that it is good to have lawmakers ask on behalf of the people why the navy needs to buy the Kidds, "but some lawmakers apparently oppose the deal for political reasons."
"We have explained to them again and again why we are determined to buy the Kidds. But they refuse to understand," the general said.
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