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No cheap options for the country's defenses, Yu says

Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday the Executive Yuan hopes to purchase arms as cheaply as possible, but he stressed that "there are no cheap options for national defense."

The premier made the remarks while fielding questions in the Legislative Yuan one day after Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) claimed that a Cabinet-proposed NT$610.8 billion (US$18.23 billion) special budget for arms procurements from the US is too expensive and that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait should hold talks to avoid military conflict and work toward cross-strait peace.

"Taiwan's strategy focuses on war prevention and we will not take the initiative to attack or provoke China," Yu said.

Taiwan will not launch an offensive strike, nor will it change the status quo, Yu said, adding that "the preservation of the status quo is in the best interests of the 23 million people of Taiwan."

He said that arms procurement will depend on the country's needs and on the threats from enemies.

From the stance of the Executive Yuan and the Ministry of National Defense, the cheaper the price tag the better, although there are no cheap options for national defense.

Also, he went on, the budget for the major arms procurement package will be cheaper if Taiwan does not insist on building some of the eight submarines it wants. He was referring to the Cabinet's plan for the purchase of six batteries of the anti-missile PAC-III system, eight diesel-electric submarines and a squadron of 12 P-3C anti-submarine aircraft from the US.

Legislators also asked if Taiwan will announce "no independence" or if it will ask Lee to send messages to China, to which the premier replied that although he admires Lee for his concern about cross-strait peace and national security, it is President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) who is in charge of cross-strait policy.
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