Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday urged Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to persuade his fellow pan-blue lawmakers to support and approve the arms purchase plan from the US.
"I believe he [Ma] also realizes the importance of this proposal. I hope the pan-blue camp will stop boycotting this proposal and taking advantage of it as a political bargaining chip," Su said when approached by the press for comment.
"There is no free national defense. We have to pay something," the premier said.
Su said that to approve the arms procurement as soon as possible is the only way to maintain the nation's security at this point in time because the US is now the only country willing to sell weapons to Taiwan.
"I think he [American Institute in Taiwan Director Stephen Young] made the point," Su said. "This is a great chance for us to strengthen our own power and defend ourselves. We should not miss it."
The US is not only the country which would sell weapons to Taiwan but also the only country which would dare to challenge China by helping Taiwan maintain peace over the Taiwan Strait, he said.
"However, we must know that politics changes fast. If this deal does not work out, no one can guarantee that future American political leaders will continue to support Taiwan for future procurement deals, or whether future US presidents will be willing to help," he said. "Defending Taiwan is more important than anything. It cannot wait."
At a separate venue yesterday, Ma, on the other hand, urged the governing and opposition parties to calm down and think before acting on the country's arms purchase plan from the US.
The last thing the parties should do is "hook the arms procurement bill together with domestic political conflict," Ma said while answering media inquiries.
Ma explained that the KMT and its political ally, the People First Party (PFP), agree that there must be a "reasonable budget" for the arms package.
The opposition claims that the package is grossly overpriced and have prevented it being tabled in the legislature's defense committee more then 50 times.
Ma said it is important for Taiwan to maintain a strong national defense.
"Do not think the country doesn't need any arms purchases only because the US representative to Taiwan has said something," he added.
Taiwan should "do whatever it thinks is necessary for the country no matter what the American said" Ma added, urging the public to support a "reasonable" arms procurement package in a rational manner "for only such support can really help Taiwan's national defense."
"That is what a sovereign country should do," said Ma.
PFP Chairman James Soong (
While the US is holding its mid-term election, Soong urged Taiwan not to rush the arms purchase so as to benefit the "arms dealers from the Republican Party."
"We should make the arms sale more transparent and prevent arms dealers from trying to make a profit from it," he said in response to a press query.
Soong said the price of the arms was "very unreasonable," and urged the US to offer a more reasonable price and "not to fool people who understand the issue better like me."
During a closed-door luncheon with local officials and opinion leaders in Taitung County yesterday, President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen was also quoted as saying that his insistence on safeguarding a Taiwan-centered identity remains unchanged and that Taiwan must go its own way because Taiwan and China are "one country on each side of the Taiwan Strait.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih and Ko Shu-ling
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS