The US government on Sunday called on Taiwanese lawmakers across party lines to pass a special defense budget bill that would finance Taiwan’s planned purchases of US weapon systems for self-defense.
“We encourage all parties in Taiwan’s legislature to work through political differences and quickly pass a special defense budget that demonstrates Taiwan’s commitment to its self-defense by funding the acquisition of critical defense capabilities,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson said.
The spokesperson also reiterated that Washington supports “Taiwan’s acquisition of critical defense capabilities, commensurate with the threat it faces,” in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act, which has facilitated more than “45 years of commitment” across multiple administrations.
Photo: Reuters
The state department was responding to a Central News Agency question on whether Washington would support a version of the special defense budget bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), if it is passed in the legislature.
Last week, the KMT proposed a special defense budget of NT$380 billion (US$11.9 billion) — raised from the originally proposed figure of NT$350 billion after final adjustments on Thursday — to fund eight weapons sales approved by the US in December last year.
The proposal is a sizeable cut from the Executive Yuan’s proposal in November of a special defense budget bill of NT$1.25 trillion, which would pay for not just the eight systems, but also potential US arms sales that have not yet been approved, as well as future procurement of drones and a T-Dome multilayered air defense system from domestic manufacturers.
It has been stalled in the legislature for months, as the opposition KMT and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) hold a combined majority.
On Friday, lawmakers across party lines unanimously agreed to a motion to send the special budget bills proposed by the Cabinet, the KMT and the TPP to the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee and the Finance Committee for review in line with an agreement reached during cross-caucus talks on Feb. 24.
Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) on Friday said that the KMT’s version of the special defense budget could derail the procurement of five weapons systems approved by Washington for sale to Taiwan.
The budget ceiling in the KMT bill does not account for potential new arms sale packages that might be approved for Taiwan, he said.
Commenting on the KMT’s proposed budget, former KMT legislator Jason Hsu (許毓仁) said there are problems in terms of feasibility, technical implementation and legislative practice.
If Washington sees this, it could easily conclude that KMT is not truly willing to support arms procurement, Hsu said.
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