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Taipei: The de facto US ambassador to Taipei Stephen Young on Thursday sternly asked the island's parliament to approve a controversial arms package, in comments that irked Taiwanese legislators. Young, who has recently returned from the United States, said that the message from Washington was that “Taiwan needs to pass the robust defense budget in this fall's legislative session.”
“The United States is watching closely and will judge those who take responsible position as well as those who play politics on this critical issue,” warned Young, director of the America Institute in Taiwan.
“Taiwan requires leadership from all sides. Both the government and the opposition. But Taiwan cannot continue to allow the critical security issues be held hostage as domestic concerns.”
“I have heard that some members of the opposition said passing the bill would be a gift for President Chen Shui-bian. I disagree with that perspective. This would be a gift for the security and people of Taiwan,” he said.
The remarks came two days after the procedural committee of Taiwan's opposition-dominated parliament again blocked the 10-billion-dollar bill.
Young said Taiwan badly needs the arms deal to boost its defense capabilities against rival China. The bill has been repeatedly shot down in parliament while Beijing has not sit idly by over the past five years, he added.
As a result, “the military gap between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan has been growing,” he said.
“This is not about arms alone, and this also not about US arms companies' profits. I would be delighted that if any other countries who want to sell self-defense weapons to Taiwan, but it seems that there is no one who wants to do that,” Young said.
Young made it clear that Washington can not sell Taiwan more F-16s if Taipei does not approve the arms package, which US President George W. Bush offered in 2001.
The United States is the leading arms supplier to Taiwan despite switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
Lee Ao, an independent parliamentarian who has strongly opposed the bill, said Young was threatening Taipei and demanded he was expelled.
Joanna Lei, legislator from the leading opposition Kuomintang (KMT), said she was unhappy about Young's “harsh tone” and his “ultimatum”.
“He sounds like he is the governor of Taiwan. It is inappropriate as he has violated the principle of not intervening in other countries' internal affairs.”
“Taiwan is not a US colony,” she added.
James Soong, head of Taiwan's second biggest opposition People First Party (PFP), dismissed Young's remarks.
“Americans said time and again that they respect Taiwan's democracy, but again they ignored what Taiwan people are thinking. Surveys showed that most people oppose richmen's arms sales,” he told reporters.
“Both the items and the price tags of the arms package are not proper,” Soong said.
The arms bill called for the purchase of eight conventional submarines and 12 P-3C aircraft. The six PAC-3 Patriot anti-missile systems included in the original bill would be financed by the government's yearly budgets.
However, the arms package has repeatedly been blocked by Taiwan's legislature even though it was scaled down from the original 16 billion dollars.
Some opposition lawmakers say Taiwan cannot afford the arms while others say the submarines would be delivered too slowly to enable the island to keep pace with China's military build-up.
