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MND denies accelerating arms buildup

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) denied yesterday a local newspaper report that the military is speeding up its procurement of anti-missile weaponry systems from the US under pressure from Washington.

"The report is not true, " the ministry's military spokesman's office said in a press release, adding that the forces' arms procurement plans have been drawn up in terms of enemy threat, combat demand and available defense budget.

"We have formulated a priority list and will carry out all procurement projects according to our own schedule. There are no problems with any acceleration or postponement of arms procurement, " the MND statement said.

The newspaper claimed in a front-page article that the military will speed up procurement of an estimated NT$110 billion (US$3.16 billion) -worth of anti-missile defense systems as a result of pressure from Washington.

According to the report, the deals cover the purchase of two long-range early-warning radar systems and six batteries of PAC-III Patriot missiles, as well as upgrades for the three PAC-II Plus missile batteries already deployed in Taipei.

The report claimed that the military had left the project on the drawing board until recently, when the ministry decided to prioritize the radar system purchase and start the procurement process for PAC-III anti-missile systems as US pressure grew.

Dismissing the report as speculation, the ministry statement said that the military has drawn up a comprehensive plan to implement a low-altitude missile defense system to be completed step-by-step over the next 10 years. "And our arms procurement plans have been carried out in terms of this timetable," it added.

The report in the newspaper coincided with the visit of a US military delegation to review Taiwan's defenses against China's mounting missile threat. The delegation is headed by Mary Tighe, a senior Pentagon official.

During a news conference on Tuesday, ministry spokesman Major General Huang Suey-sheng (黃穗生) declined to comment on the report of Tighe's visit. Instead, he said military exchanges with the US are carried out in line with the Taiwan Relations Act -- the US law that regulates exchanges with Taiwan in the absence of formal diplomatic ties -- and the "Six Assurances" the US government offered to Taiwan in 1982, including a continued supply of defensive weapons.
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