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Navy helicopter crashes off Tsoying base, killing 1

A naval helicopter carrying three crew crashed into the sea late last night, killing one officer and leaving the other two missing, the navy said.

Rescuers found the body of lieutenant-commander Yang Shun-yuan (楊順元) about 45 minutes after the S70-C helicopter went down 63km off the navy's Tsoying (左營) base in southern Taiwan, it said in a statement.

Search for two crew

A search was under way for the other two crew members, identified as navy Lieutenant Sung Yu-shao (宋育韶) and Master Sergeant Huang Hsien-hua (黃憲華), the statement said, adding that an investigation was looking into the cause of the accident.

In related news, Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (李傑) yesterday told legislators that the US has not made any recommendations to Taiwan as to how three weapons systems included in a special arms budget should be purchased.

"For now, US has not changed its policy of being willing to sell the three weapons systems to Taiwan," Lee said.

US review

Lee made the remarks in response to claims made by People First Party Legislator Nelson Ku (顧崇廉) that the US Department of Defense had just completed a policy review on Taiwan that said the government's arrangement to procure the systems from the US using a special arms budget -- and not the regular defense budget -- was a mistake.

The policy review also said the failure to pass the arms bill has impacted on US defense policy in East Asia, said Ku, who is also the former chief of the navy.

"The policy review was finished just before US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld paid his visit to China this week, and our government has received the information on the policy adjustment," Ku said at a meeting of the legislature's National Defense Committee.

Relations

"The US considers that the failure to approve the arms bill has impacted on US defense policy toward East Asia, and has harmed the US-Taiwan relationship as well," he said.

Ku said that the US thinks the furious conflict over the arms bill has to some degree given a bad impression to Taiwanese that the US was attempting to force Taiwan to fund the arms bill, so the new policy would allow Taiwan to decide its defense requirements.

Opposed

Ku said he has supported the three items included in the arms package, but opposed putting them in a special budget. He also said the prices are too high.

A senior US defense official last week denied that Washington was trying to "force" Taiwan to complete the sale.

The official told the Taipei Times correspondent in Washington that "It isn't our obligation [under the Taiwan Relations Act] to force anything on Taiwan."

The decision is up to the Taiwanese people, the official said.
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