Chief of the General Staff General Tang Yao-ming (
"The consequences of the [unauthorized] exposure of the weapons purchase list by the media may be beyond my control. I strongly hope the media will understand that our country is in a very difficult situation," Tang said.
Tang made the remarks yesterday at the Legislative Yuan's Defense Committee meeting in response to inquiries from an opposition lawmaker about the recent publication in a US newspaper of a list of weapons which Taiwan is hoping to buy from the US.
"We know the news was provided to the newspaper [the Washington Times] by a special assistant to a US congressman. We have checked with the report's source and found that he did not intend to leak the information to the press," Tang said.
Tang pointed out another mistake found in the news report, which quoted an anonymous Taiwan general as saying that it was Taiwan which wanted the weapons purchase list to be made public.
"We have interviewed the general referred to and have found that what the news report said was not true," Tang said.
"It is a mutual understanding and agreement between Taiwan and US that neither side should openly discuss arms sales between the two sides. We will not and shall not break the rule."
Tang refused to speak on anything related to the upcoming arms talk between Taiwan and US, despite many attempts by lawmakers on the defense committee to urge him to speak on the issue.
It was Tang's first appearance at the Defense Committee in the new session of the legislature.
Tang delivered a report on how the military is to conduct this year's Hankuang No. 17 joint-forces exercise.
It was also the first time that a chief of the general staff has publicly reported on a major military exercise like the Hankuang series exercises, which have been held annually since 1984.
In his report, Tang highlighted the significance of the exercise as a comprehensive test of the combat readiness of the new-generation armed forces, which have been formed in sequence over the past few years along with the Chingshih personnel streamlining and organizational restructuring project.
The exercise is to be divided into two parts: computer war games and live maneuvers of troops in the field.
The computer war-gaming portion began on Tuesday and will continue for two weeks, while troop maneuvers are to start in late March and will last until the middle of April.
The computer war games will simulate different attacks on Taiwan by China and Taiwan's countermeasures against these scenarios.
They are also to involve cyber warfare between troops posing as opposing blue and red armies.
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