TAIPEI, April 27 (Reuters) – The top U.S. diplomat in Taiwan on Monday pressed the island’s opposition-majority parliament to pass a “comprehensive” defence budget, saying integrated air and missile defence systems and drones are critically important and in high demand globally.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te last year proposed $40 billion in supplemental defence spending, covering not only new U.S. weapons but also homemade weapons like drones, saying Taipei needs to more effectively deter the threat from China, which views the island as its own territory.
Lai says only Taiwan’s people can decide the island’s future.
But talks in parliament to advance the proposal have stalled, with the main Kuomintang (KMT) opposition party saying while they support defence spending, they won’t sign “blank cheques” and want more details from the government.
In an interview with Taiwanese newspaper the China Times, Raymond Greene, the de facto U.S. ambassador in Taipei, said it was vital for Taiwan to pass a “comprehensive budget package.”
“This would not only send a critical signal to the international community, but is also essential for ensuring Taiwan acquires the full range of defence capabilities it has requested,” he said.
While the U.S. has already announced the sale of weapons including the Lockheed Martin-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system, Taiwan’s special defence budget also seeks integrated air and missile defence systems and drones, among other things, Greene added.
“As evidenced on the battlefields of the Middle East and Ukraine, these systems are not only critically important but are also in extremely high demand worldwide,” said Greene, who is head of the American Institute in Taiwan, which handles the unofficial relations between Washington and Taipei.
“The sooner the special defence budget act passes, the better,” he added.
Taiwan’s government has said delays to passing the budget could mean Taiwan risks losing its place in the production and delivery queue for U.S. weapons.
THREAT IS NOT ‘RANDOM TALK’
Speaking at parliament on Monday, Defence Minister Wellington Koo said the threat Taiwan faced was not just “random talk,” pointing to Chinese warships spotted in recent days to the southwest of Taiwan’s Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait.
“This is a matter that bears on the very survival of our country,” he said, referring to the need to pass the defence spending legislation.
The latest talks between the ruling and opposition parties on the budget ended on Monday without agreement, though KMT lawmaker Hsu Chiao-hsin suggested a figure of NT$800 billion ($25.46 billion), closer to the government’s NT$1.25 trillion.
The next talks are set for May 6.
The U.S. is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier and in December it unveiled an $11 billion arms package, the largest ever for Taipei.
China has repeatedly demanded that the U.S. stop selling weapons to Taiwan.
($1 = 31.4280 Taiwan dollars)
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
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