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Ma vows to boost military to leverage China negotiations

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday pledged to increase the nation's military budget to more than 3 percent of GDP and return to the negotiating table with China on the basis of a stronger national defense if elected.

"We can not negotiate with China from a position of weakness. Cross-strait negotiations need to start based on a strong national defense in Taiwan," Ma said yesterday while attending a lunch party with KMT military veterans in Taipei.

Ma pledged to increase the military budget to more than 3 percent of GDP and continue arms procurement from the US and other countries should he win the presidential election in March.

Saying that Taiwan should not fully depend on military support from the US, Ma added that he would advance cross-strait reconciliation with the backing of the nation's military strength.

He also vowed never to develop nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction.

Ma said that, if elected, he would ask China to remove its missiles targeted at Taiwan and negotiate with Beijing to establish confidence-building mechanisms and conduct military exchanges as well as sign a peace agreement.

KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) said during the lunch that unless the DPP were "totally defeated" it would always remain vulnerable to being "kidnapped" by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
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