Voters need to endorse the nation's defense policy in order to demonstrate public consensus and Taiwan's determination to defend itself, Democratic Progressive Party legislator Julien Kuo (郭正亮) said in yesterday's referendum debate.
Kuo's opponent, UFO Radio chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (
In the last round of a series of referendum debates, Jaw and Kuo discussed the first question that will be posed to the public in Saturday's referendum -- a question that concerns the purchase of anti-missile weapons.
The question asks voters the question, "If China refuses to withdraw the missiles targeted at Taiwan and does not give up its military threats, do you agree that the government should buy more anti-missile weapons and equipment to strengthen Taiwan's defense capabilities?"
Kuo said that the Taiwanese people can make themselves heard internationally through the referendum.
"International society does not really understand anything about Taiwan's domestic quarrels. They did not see the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally as a campaign event but rather as Taiwan's rejection of China. The international community's stake in the referendum is whether Taiwanese people can speak up to the world," Kuo said.
"If the referendum were rejected by the Taiwanese public, then the US, international society and China would all hold Taiwan in contempt because they would think Taiwan is not wholehearted about defending itself," Kuo said.
Kuo also said that by joining the US-initiated "theater missile defense" system, Taiwan could form military and political relations with the US and Japan, and the conflicts between Taiwan and China would become international issues.
"No weapon is perfect, but the value of anti-missile systems lies in many fields other than simple weapons functions," Kuo said, responding to Jaw's statement that the government may waste public funds if it invests large amounts of money in an anti-missile system that is not effective in destroying enemy missiles.
Jaw said that he supports weapons purchases but he believes that purchases should be decided on by military experts and that non-experts should not be consulted.
"The government has been worried about illiterate voters' ability to process the referendum ballots, but if these people cannot even read, how can they make important decisions regarding national defense policy?" Jaw said.
"The Patriot air defense system is expensive and not effective, and if we spend money on the system, we will have less money for other national defense items," Jaw said.
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