[extropy-chat] CHINA/TAIWAN: US tells Taiwan to pay for its defense

[Mike Lorrey]

http://www.spacewar.com/news/taiwan-05z.html

Pentagon Official Warns Taiwan On Defense Spending

The United States in 2001 approved the sale of eight diesel electric
submarines, 12 P3 surveillance planes and advanced Patriot missile
defense systems. 
Washington (AFP) Sep 21, 2005
A senior Pentagon official bluntly warned Taiwan it must invest in its
own defenses against a growing threat from China if it expects the
United States to come to its aid in a crisis.
Edward Ross, a top official with the Defense Security Cooperation
Agency, lambasted Taiwan's political leaders for turning a 10 billion
dollar special defense budget into a "political football."

In a speech in San Diego late Monday to the US-Taiwan Business Council,
Ross said US government officials, members of Congress and business
people were increasingly raising questions about Taiwan's commitment to
its own defense.

"They ask us, 'if Taiwan is not willing to properly invest in its own
self-defense, why should we, the US, provide for its self-defense,'" he
said. "It's a reasonable question."

At a time when American troops are in harm's way in Iraq and
Afghanistan, he said, "an increasing number of Americans are asking
hard questions about how much we are willing to sacrifice for the
security and democracy of others."

The United States in 2001 approved the sale of eight diesel electric
submarines, 12 P3 surveillance planes and advanced Patriot missile
defense systems.

But the special budget created to finance the acquisitions has failed
to gain approval in the Taiwanese legislature.

President Chen Shui-bian also has consistently put economic and social
spending ahead of defense, Ross said.

As Taiwan's defense budgets have declined, China has sustained double
digit increases in defense spending over the past decade, he said.

Taiwan appears to have "calculated US intervention heavily into their
resource allocation equation and elected to reduce defense spending
despite an ever prosperous and stable economy. And this short-change
math does not work," he said.

"You see, China is also doing the math and has accounted for the
possibility of foreign intervention. Their conclusion: buy more
submarines and anti-submarine cruise missiles."

He said the United States, for its part, was watching China's military
modernization and the stalemate in Taiwan over defense spending - "and
we're doing our own math."

"We do not live in a world of absolutes. And the time of reckoning is
upon us," he said.

"In the end, the US ability to contribute to Taiwan's defense in a
crisis is going to be measured against Taiwan's ability to resist,
defend and survive based on its own capabilities," he said.



Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
Founder, Constitution Park Foundation:
http://constitutionpark.blogspot.com
Personal/political blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
__________________________________ 
Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 
http://mail.yahoo.com