The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday issued its new publicity material to lobby support from legislators for the government's arms procurement budget, appealing to the public to cut back on one cup of milk tea per week so the government can pay for the arms procurement budget. The plea implies that the government may raise taxes to pay for the arms deal.
Led by Political Warfare Department Director-General Chen Pan-chih (陳邦治), the ministry organized a "creativity task force" to develop the idea of producing publicity material for the public and Legislative Yuan. The task force also consulted with experts from the advertising sector over the past few months. They tried to adopt a friendly style of communication to persuade people to support the ministry's NT$610 billion arms procurement budget, Chen said.
"If everyone in the country saves their money and cuts back on one cup of milk tea per week, then the government will have enough money to buy advanced weapons to defend the nation," publicity material said.
The material also stated funding the budget could be completed within 15 years, which means that the government only has to submit a budget of NT$33 billion per year. Aside from the public, the ministry sent pamphlets to all legislators. Opposition legislators yesterday afternoon immediately spoke out against the bill.
"Contrary to the ministry's new publicity ad," said Chinese Nationalist Party Legislator Lu Hsiou-yan (
President Chen Shui-bian (
Premier Yu Shyi-kun and Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (
They stated Taiwan must arm itself so it will have the leverage necessary to negotiate with other countries regard security matters.
"We are trying to be like the porcupine, which does not attack others but arms itself to counter an enemy attack," Lee said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
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