The government has earmarked NT$16.03 billion (US$487.8 million) for the purchase of F-16C/D fighter jets from the US, according to the Ministry of National Defense's budget request sent to the legislature for review yesterday.
The money, part of the budget for 66 F-16 C/D fighters, is an attempt to show the nation's determination to push through its arms budget requests and to respond to rumors that Washington has decided not to sell the fighters to Taiwan for the time being.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (
"Since the US hasn't officially approved the deal and made it public, why should the legislature pass the budget?" Lin said.
Lin added: "If it turns out that the US turns down Taiwan's request after the budget has passed the legislature, how would we deal with the budget?"
Lin said that the inclusion of F-16 fighters went against established practice as the military usually drew up a budget for arms the US had already agreed to sell.
Commenting on the budget, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Wen-chung (
"Although the US hasn't officially declared the deal, I believe that the military must have some understanding with the US," Lee said.
"If the US hasn't, to some extent, committed to selling [Taiwan's] military the F-16 fighters, why did the military allocate the budget for the deal?" he asked.
Lee said the fact that the military was trying to get the budget for the F-16 fighters passed in the legislature before the US announces the sale reflected the US' displeasure at Taiwan over the long-delayed arms procurement bill.
The long-delayed NT$6.2 billion arms bill is for the purchase of 12 P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, upgrading existing PAC-2 anti-missile batteries, and assessing the necessity of eight diesel-powered submarines.
It is a revision of the initial "special arms procurement bill," a NT$480 billion package that has been blocked from the legislative agenda since June 8, 2004.
Meanwhile, the defense ministry yesterday said that good communications between the ministry and its US counterparts prevail after earlier reports said that the US government had refused to sell F-16 C/D jet fighters to Taiwan.
Ministry Spokesman Rear Admiral Wu Chi-fang (
The Cabinet's annual budget for the next fiscal year showed that military expenses would be the major part of the budget.
Media reports had quoted unnamed ministry officials as saying that the cost of the F-16 C/D fighters was part of the budget plan, although they did not confirm the total amount of aircraft that the military is planning to buy. But Wu would not confirm or deny such speculation when approached.
"I can only tell you that the relationship between Taiwan and the US will not be impacted on by those unconfirmed rumors and we are still approaching the targets we have established. We are in good shape," Wu said.
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