Taipei - Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou said Saturday that
Taipei won't stop buying arms from the United States just because
Taipei-Beijing ties are improving.
'I have expressed support for buying necessary defensive arms on
many occasions. Taiwan's policy is consistent, the parliament has
passed the budget and we have told the US through various channels,'
Ma said while having lunch with reporters.
'Buying defensive arms is vital for Taiwan's defence and the
Taiwan military cannot wait. This (arms purchase policy) will not
change just because our ties with China have improved,' he said.
Ma said that in the US government there are conflicting views
regarding arms sale to Taiwan. 'There is nothing we can do about
that, but Taiwan's policy has not changed,' he said.
Ma was responding to a report in the Taiwan's United Daily News
that said Washington was unhappy about Taiwan's delaying an arms
purchase from the US so as not to hurt improved Taipei-Beijing ties,
and that US President George W Bush had frozen arms sales to Taiwan.
Taiwan's eight arms purchase deals are awaiting approval by the US
State Department, but it is unclear if the US can authorize the deals
during Bush's term, the Central News Agency said.
The eight deals cover the purchase of Apache military helicopters,
anti-tank missiles, upgrades of the PAC anti-missile system, F-16
components, P-3C anti-submarine aircraft, harpoon missiles plus the
feasibility study on the US' building eight conventional subs for
Taiwan.
Also on Saturday, President Ma criticized China for changing the
name under which the Taiwan team would be attending the Beijing
Olympics.
Ma said China's changing 'Chinese-Taipei' to 'China-Taipei' would
cause controversy, and he has instructed the departments concerned to
contact China to use the correct Olympic name for Taiwan.
'Taiwan and China reached a consensus long ago on Chinese-Taipei.
China should stop making interpretations because that can only cause
controversy,' Ma said while having lunch with reporters.
Taiwan lost its seat in the United Nations and most UN-related
organizations in 1971, but was later allowed to remain in the
International Olympic Committee under the name of Chinese-Taipei.
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