While the People's Liberation Army (PLA) does not have the capability to launch an attack against Taiwan now, it might have such a competence between 2020 and 2035 if the legislature fails to pass the arms procurement budget, Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (
"While the combat capability ratio between China and Taiwan is 1.67 to 1, it is estimated that it will rise up to 2.8 to 1 between 2020 and 2035 without the deployment of the weaponry included in the arms procurement plan," Lee said, adding that the PLA will have full capability to initiate a military assault when the ratio reaches 3 to 1.
Lee made the remarks yesterday morning while delivering a report on the arms project to the legislature's National Defense Committee.
The Executive Yuan approved a revised version of the special arms bill on Tuesday that set a ceiling on the NT$480 billion (US$15.47 billion) budget. The original price tag was NT$610.8 billion.
The budget would pay for six Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) surface-to-air missile defense systems, 12 P-3C maritime patrol aircraft and eight diesel-powered submarines.
During the question-and-answer session, independent Legislator Li Ao (
"The US government is treating us like its watchdog," Li said, waving the leash and a book about Taiwan-US relations. "According to the Taiwan Relations Act, the US government must `provide' Taiwan with arms of a defensive character. Mind you, it does not say `sell.'"
He then proposed filing a lawsuit against the US government for failing to fulfill its promise.
Lee, however, dismissed Li's proposal as "unfeasible."
Li then yanked out a carving knife from his pocket and asked Lee to show his resolve to protect Taiwan.
"People First Party [PFP] Chairman James Soong (
"There are many ways to show your determination. Using this knife to cut off your balls is one of them," he said.
Such a dramatic gesture, Li said, would deliver a much more powerful message than just buying weapons.
While the lawmaker continued to urge Lee to accept his offer, the minister dismissed it as "irrelevant."
In related news, the PFP legislative caucus yesterday reiterated its opposition to the arms procurement plan, insisting that the budget be earmarked as a regular annual budget and reiterating that it is too expensive.
The director of the PFP caucus office, Chin Hui-chu (
"We opposed the NT$610.8 billion arms budget and we oppose the NT$480 billion budget," she said. "We find those figures unreasonable and unconvincing."
The budget should be earmarked as part of a regular annual budget and her caucus will ask the legislature's Procedure Committee to reject the inclusion of the special budget bill in its agenda on Tuesday.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus has planned to include the bill in the committee's agenda on Tuesday, hoping to push it through to committee review.
PFP Legislator Chao Liang-yen (
"However, we oppose earmarking the arms budget as a special budget to circumvent the Budget Law (
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS