Chen admits to weapon-sale frictions

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) made a rare admission yesterday that his government had differences with the US about which weapons the nation should buy and the timing of the sales.

Chen strayed from a tradition of not publicly discussing such issues and acknowledged that there is some friction about the weapons when he met with Richard Bush, who recently served as the head of the American Institute in Taiwan.

"We have differences of opinion about the timetable for the delivery of US arms and on which weapons should receive priority. We need to hurry and sit down to talk about it," Chen said.

He didn't provide specifics about which weapons are the sources of disagreement. But he added that the two sides "have no differences about Taiwan's need to strengthen and increase its defensive capabilities."

Chen assured Bush that Taiwan was serious about its defense.

"Some people say that because of US assistance, Taiwan does not have to rely on itself and can push off its responsibility to the US. The president wants to emphasize that this is the wrong way to go,'' Chen said.