The Ministry of National Defense is talking with the US about using the appropriation authority granted to the US president to send a US$500 million arms package to Taiwan, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said yesterday.
The arms package is being offered by the US government to “compensate for defense loopholes created by delays in the delivery of weapons that Taiwan has procured,” Chiu told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee in Taipei.
“Once such a package is approved, the US and Taiwan would double-check weapons that have been procured by Taiwan, but have yet to be delivered. The US government could then start delivering some of the weapons that they have at the moment or alternatives to meet the demands of Taiwan,” Chiu said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
“The cost of this additional arms package would not be deducted from the military procurement spending that was already approved by the legislature,” he said.
Reuters reported on Friday last week that the US Congress, as a part of its budget, authorized up to US$1 billion of weapons aid for Taiwan using the Presidential Drawdown Authority, a rapid response tool that allows the US government to provide emergency military assistance to allies and partners in crisis.
Chiu also said that the ministry is still deliberating whether the military trial system should be reinstated after high-ranking military personnel were involved in a series of espionage cases.
Lawmakers across party lines have called for the reinstatement of the system to restore military discipline.
There are advantages and disadvantages to hearing military cases in civilian courts, Chiu said.
“Compared with military courts, trials in civilian courts would proceed in a fairer manner. However, lawsuits in civilian courts tend to take longer than those in a military court. The legal process is so long that military personnel might still be waiting for the verdicts even after they have already been discharged from the military. Restoring the military trial system is not something that can be done instantly and we are still reviewing the feasibility of the proposal,” he said.
In a written report to the Legislative Yuan, the ministry said it would propose an amendment to the Military Trial Act (軍審法) “when the public has reached a consensus on reinstating the military trial system.”
However, as punishment of some military cases handed down by civilian courts were too lenient it has hurt discipline and the morale of troops, the ministry said in the report that it would advise prosecutors that they need to take into account the actions of individuals that contravene military ethical codes or disrupt military discipline.
The Military Trial Act, although not abolished, has not been enforced since 2013 after the legislature passed an amendment that transfered non-wartime crimes committed by active service members to prosecutors’ offices and civilian courts. Military prosecutors and military courts of all levels have since then been shut down.
The proposal to transfer military cases to civilian courts was made after former army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) died of heat stroke two days before he was to be discharged from the military in 2013.
While the military concluded in its investigation that Hung died because of improper training, more than 100,000 people took part in protests to appeal for transparency in military cases.
In response to queries about comments by US Representative Seth Moulton that China should know that the US government would bomb Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) plants and destroy them if China were to invade Taiwan, Chiu said: “It would be the military’s responsibility to defend our territory, people or military resources. We would not tolerate any country bombing our facilities or invading our airspace.”
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