allesennogwat
05-03-2007, 10:47 AM
The top US official in Taiwan on Thursday renewed calls for the island's parliament to approve a controversial 10-billion-US dollar arms budget in the face of the threat from China's military buildup.
De facto ambassador Stephen Young also said Taiwan should boost its missile defences.
"We believe that Taiwan is not responding appropriately to the steady build-up of military across the Taiwan Strait. It seems to me this is a fundamental security problem for Taiwan," Young told a press conference.
"But it unfortunately also causes Taiwan's friend the United States to question whether our security partner here is serious about maintaining capable defence," said Young, who is director of the American Institute in Taiwan.
Young urged Taiwanese lawmakers to put aside their political differences and approve the arms package, which US President George W. Bush offered in 2001.
The arms package called for the purchase of six PAC-3 Patriot anti-missile systems, eight conventional submarines and 12 P-3C aircraft.
The 10-billion-dollar bill, scaled down from the original 16 billion, finally passed parliament's procedure committee in December after nearly 70 attempts.
But it needs to be further approved by parliament's defence committee before being forwarded to the full house for a vote.
"Taiwan's leaders from across the political spectrum here told me that they support passage of the bill yet there has been no action ... I think the legislature should put aside its partisan differences and act on" the bill, Young said.
He also brushed aside as "inaccurate" reports that Washington had agreed to let Taiwan develop offensive weapons.
"In fact what we think Taiwan should be focus on at this time is missile defence... over the last decade China has deployed a large number of missiles that threaten Taiwan," he said.
Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian earlier this year accused China of "provoking" his government by targeting the island with nearly 1,000 missiles.
"We think that developing defensive capabilities is the right thing to do. We think that offensive capabilities on either side of the Strait are destabilising and therefore not in the interest of peace and security," Young quoted National Security Council senior director for East Asian affairs Dennis Wilder as saying.
"So ...I am not for offensive missiles on the Chinese side of the Strait and I am not for offensive missiles on the Taiwan side of the Strait," Wilder was quoted as saying.
The US is the leading arms supplier to Taiwan despite its switch of diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
Some opposition lawmakers say Taiwan cannot afford the arms package while others say the submarines would be delivered too slowly to enable the island to keep pace with China's military build-up.
China still considers the island part of its territory awaiting reunification despite their split in 1949 at the end of a civil war.
De facto ambassador Stephen Young also said Taiwan should boost its missile defences.
"We believe that Taiwan is not responding appropriately to the steady build-up of military across the Taiwan Strait. It seems to me this is a fundamental security problem for Taiwan," Young told a press conference.
"But it unfortunately also causes Taiwan's friend the United States to question whether our security partner here is serious about maintaining capable defence," said Young, who is director of the American Institute in Taiwan.
Young urged Taiwanese lawmakers to put aside their political differences and approve the arms package, which US President George W. Bush offered in 2001.
The arms package called for the purchase of six PAC-3 Patriot anti-missile systems, eight conventional submarines and 12 P-3C aircraft.
The 10-billion-dollar bill, scaled down from the original 16 billion, finally passed parliament's procedure committee in December after nearly 70 attempts.
But it needs to be further approved by parliament's defence committee before being forwarded to the full house for a vote.
"Taiwan's leaders from across the political spectrum here told me that they support passage of the bill yet there has been no action ... I think the legislature should put aside its partisan differences and act on" the bill, Young said.
He also brushed aside as "inaccurate" reports that Washington had agreed to let Taiwan develop offensive weapons.
"In fact what we think Taiwan should be focus on at this time is missile defence... over the last decade China has deployed a large number of missiles that threaten Taiwan," he said.
Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian earlier this year accused China of "provoking" his government by targeting the island with nearly 1,000 missiles.
"We think that developing defensive capabilities is the right thing to do. We think that offensive capabilities on either side of the Strait are destabilising and therefore not in the interest of peace and security," Young quoted National Security Council senior director for East Asian affairs Dennis Wilder as saying.
"So ...I am not for offensive missiles on the Chinese side of the Strait and I am not for offensive missiles on the Taiwan side of the Strait," Wilder was quoted as saying.
The US is the leading arms supplier to Taiwan despite its switch of diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
Some opposition lawmakers say Taiwan cannot afford the arms package while others say the submarines would be delivered too slowly to enable the island to keep pace with China's military build-up.
China still considers the island part of its territory awaiting reunification despite their split in 1949 at the end of a civil war.