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PFP sticks to arms boycott

The People First Party (PFP) caucus yesterday declared that it would not allow the statute governing the arms deal with the US to pass the Procedure Committee next week.

"If the US doesn't recognize the Republic of China (ROC) as a sovereign state, we should not buy the weapons," PFP caucus whip Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) said.

At Tuesday's Procedure Committee meeting, the PFP, with the support of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), boycotted the statute in response to US Secretary of State Colin Powell's statement that "Taiwan is not a sovereign state."

The PFP's declaration poses a major threat to Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng's (王金平) call to send the statute to committee review before the legislative elections.

If the statute does not pass the Procedure Committee next week, the next opportunity will be on Nov. 9. If the statute is passed on Nov. 9, there would not be enough time for it to get a first reading and be officially delivered to the related committees for review before the current legislative session is suspended on Nov. 10. The statute then will have to wait at least until Dec. 14 to get its first reading.

The KMT caucus yesterday remained ambiguous about whether it would support the PFP again in the committee, although it has sided with the PFP over the past few weeks to block the statute's passage by the committee.

"We haven't decided what to do next week yet," KMT caucus whip Huang Teh-fu (黃德福) said.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus, meanwhile, expressed disappointment with the PFP's attitude and said that the pan-blue hardliners were using Powell's statement as an excuse.

"The pan-blue camp is using Powell's remarks as an excuse to prevent the statute from being passed for review. But this may actually be Wang trying to shift his responsibility," DPP caucus whip Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) said.

"Wang originally promised to help deliver the statute for review on time, but now he cannot be certain of that. This should have nothing to do with Powell's remarks. Instead, this is about the pan-blue hardliners rising again," Lee said.

Wang denied Lee's claim.

"It is the Procedure Committee, not me, which is in charge of arranging the bills for readings in the legislative sitting," he said.
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