Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明), who is to attend a private defense conference in the US next month, said yesterday he would not discuss individual arms purchases during his visit.
It is to be the first public visit by a Taiwanese defense minister to the US since the end of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1979.
Some political observers have surmised that the real purpose of Tang's unprecedented invitation to the US is due to some major issues related to arms purchases.
Tang said the main reason for him to attend the conference will be to "help the US understand Taiwan's defense thinking." He made the remarks during a question-and-answer session at the legislature.
Tang will deliver a speech on Taiwan's defense at the conference, to be held between March 10 and March 12 in Florida.
The conference, organized by the US-Taiwan Business Council, a private US-based institute, is to focus on issues related to Taiwan's defense, such as the nation's arms procurement process and the development of a command, control, communication and computer systems (C4).
Several other generals have also been invited to speak at the conference, which is to be off-limits to the press.
At the legislature yesterday, Tang reiterated that he would not discuss individual arms purchases at the "defense summit" conference.
That does not mean, however, that Tang will shun discussion of arms procurement issues, one of the main topics at the conference.
At the legislature yesterday, Tang was also asked about whether Taiwan would say "yes" to the US if it wanted Taiwan to join the Theater Missile Defense (TMD) program now under development.
He gave only a simple reply of "thank you" to the lawmaker who raised the question. He went on to say that there would be no discussion of TMD issues at the conference.
"Given that Taiwan is under the threat of ballistic missile attack from China, we [the military] have been thinking about how to keep the island out of harm's way," Tang said.
Also at the legislature, former minister of foreign affairs John Chang (
Chang said that it would be proper for this kind of visit to be kept from the public.
Based on his past experiences in foreign affairs, Chang said Tang's visit to the US in August would surely be affected as a result.
Tang's August visit to the US was exposed last week by a local Chinese-language paper, which quoted some anonymous sources as saying that the visit was to be a significant one since it was to be arranged by the US government, rather than a private institute.
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