American Institute in Taiwan Director Stephen Young put the cat among the pigeons last Thursday when he held a press conference to talk frankly about the arms procurement bill.
The gist of his message was that after five years the Bush administration is getting fed up with the string of broken promises and inaction from the opposition concerning passage of the bill.
Young's words were unusually blunt, but as he told those present, China has not been wasting time in upgrading its military arsenal during the same period, and Taiwan should appreciate that the US is willing to sell it arms at all.
The US wants and needs Taiwan to have an adequate defense capability so that Taipei can one day bargain with Beijing from a position of strength or, in the event of any conflict with China, hold on until the US arrives to help the nation defend itself.
Young's words unsurprisingly upset the pan-blue camp, but since the budgets have been revised in accordance with its demands, the pan-blues have no excuse to vacillate any longer.
The linking of the bill to prosecutor Eric Chen's (
All this latest episode has done is again underline Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) impotence in the face of party hardliners. All his talk of a "reasonable" arms budget and promises to review the bill have amounted to nothing.
In response to Young, Ma said: "The Republic of China [ROC] is a sovereign country ... The right of the Legislative Yuan to review the bill should be respected."
But it is the pan-blue camp that has not respected that right, blocking the bill from being reviewed.
Ma and the rest of the pan-blues no doubt harbor profound unease at the fact that the ROC remains a "sovereign country" only because of US support. Those KMT legislators who show blatant disregard for Taiwan's security by blocking the bill would not occupy their privileged positions today were it not for the US' economic and military commitment to this country.
One possible reason for their recent behavior is that they are trying to sabotage relations with the US to make the Democratic Progressive Party government look incompetent in the eyes of the electorate and Washington. But this could backfire, as many in Taiwan value a strong relationship with the US.
On the other hand, it could be part of a naive plan to unseat Young, who is disliked by the pan-blue camp because of his perceived pro-Taiwan stance and the fact that he is knowledgeable about local affairs.
The People First Party became upset after he criticized Chairman James Soong's (
What it boils down to is that the pan-blues do not like the US having a clued-up man in Taiwan who tells Washington exactly what is going on and does not pander to their every whim.
Thankfully, the State Department's statement on Friday indicates that Young has the full backing of the US government. So, if that is the pan-blues' aim, then they are likely to fail.
If the electorate takes the State Department's words to heart and "hold their leaders responsible" for these shenanigans, the political space for pan-blue hardliners will shrink. The first test of this process will be the Taipei mayoral election.
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