, Taiwan's purchase of around 66 F-16 fighter jets from the United States will be dependent on the passage of a long-stalled budget for a much larger arms package to defend against rival China, the military said on Tuesday.
Taiwan defense officials have said U.S. President George W. Bush had suspended a decision to sell Taiwan the fighters due to failure of the island's parliament to approve a US$18 billion weapons package that has been on offer since 2001.
Most of that special budget has now been wrapped into the defense ministry's regular annual funding and includes money for eight diesel submarines and Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile systems, which opposition lawmakers had blocked for two years in parliament.
A positive response from the United States to sell the F-16 aircraft, which are made by Lockheed Martin Corp., would be dependent on passage of the 2007 defense budget, Wu Chi-fang, spokesman for the Defense Ministry, told reporters on Tuesday.
“We hope the parliament passes the 2007 budget as quickly as possible so we can tell the United States we definitely have the resolve to defend ourselves and hope that they sell us the F-16s,” he said.
Wu made the remarks after a delegation of Taiwan military officials traveled to the United States to discuss military purchases earlier this month.
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