President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and the Cabinet reaffirmed yesterday that the government will honor its NT$500 billion (US$15.1 billion) arms-procurement plan even if the public votes down the referendum question on defense reinforcement.
One of the referendum questions will ask voters whether the nation should strengthen its defenses in the face of China's missile threat, and whether Taiwan should hold talks with Beijing to establish a peaceful and stable framework for cross-strait interactions.
During a radio interview yesterday morning, Chen said that the NT$500 billion arms-procurement plan and the referendum are two very different issues.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"While the referendum question deals with future defense reinforcement projects, the NT$500 billion arms-procurement refers to an advanced anti-missile deployment plan the defense ministry has been working on since 1997," he said.
Chen made the remark in response to a question from the program's hostess, who questioned the necessity of the referendum in the wake of Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (
"Doesn't it sound ridiculous that the government will forge ahead with the arms-procurement plan if the public says no?" Clara Chou (
Echoing Chen's comments, Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (
"If the critics had studied the referendum question carefully, they'd have realized that the voters are not asked whether to purchase the anti-missile weaponry systems but whether to strengthen the nation's defense capabilities in the face of China's missile threat," Lin said.
He said the NT$500 billion special budget would help pay for the eight diesel-engine submarines, 12 P-3C Orion aircraft, anti-missile Patriot PAC-3 systems and four Kidd-class destroyers that US President George W. Bush promised to sell to Taipei three years ago.
Lin also responded to criticism from People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
Lin said that the referendum would have an impact on the government's decision-making process if voters said no to both questions.
"But we'd still be sending out a message to China and to the world that we're a peace-loving people and that we would strengthen our defenses in the face of China's increasing military threat," he said.
In related news, Premier Yu Shyi-kun is set to name five to seven Cabinet officials who will take part in the 10 televised debates on the referendum. Possible candidates include Taipei County Commissioner Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Straits Exchange Foundation Vice Chairman Shi Hwei-yow (許惠祐), Minister without Portfolio Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) and Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍).
Yu had approved a line-up consisting of five Cabinet officials and five academics on Monday, but the government decided to change the group after a coalition of predominately pro-blue political commentators launched a petition drive on Tuesday to be the "opposition" side for the debates. The pan-blue campaign headquarters has declined to take part in the debates.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods