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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 \u200cimportant and in high demand globally.<\/p>\n
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te last year proposed $40 billion in supplemental defence spending, \u200ccovering not only new U.S. weapons but also homemade weapons like drones, saying Taipei needs to more effectively deter the threat from China, \u200bwhich views the island as its own territory.<\/p>\n
Lai says only Taiwan’s people can decide the island’s future.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Taiwanese newspaper the China Times, Raymond Greene, the de \u200cfacto U.S. ambassador in Taipei, said it \u2060was vital for Taiwan to pass a “comprehensive budget package.”<\/p>\n
“This would not only send a critical signal to the international community, but is also essential for ensuring Taiwan acquires the full \u2060range of defence capabilities it has requested,” he said.<\/p>\n
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 \u200bother things, \u200bGreene added.<\/p>\n
“As evidenced on the battlefields of the Middle East \u200band Ukraine, these systems are not only critically \u200cimportant 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
THREAT IS NOT ‘RANDOM TALK’<\/p>\n
Speaking at parliament on Monday, Defence Minister Wellington Koo said the threat Taiwan faced was not just “random talk,” pointing to Chinese warships spotted \u200cin recent days in waters to the southwest of Taiwan’s Penghu \u200bislands in the Taiwan Strait.<\/p>\n
“This is a matter that bears on the \u200bvery survival of our country,” he said, referring \u200bto the need to pass the defence spending legislation.<\/p>\n
KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun, who met Chinese \u200cPresident Xi Jinping in Beijing earlier this month \u200bon what she called a journey \u200bof peace, is planning to visit the U.S. in June.<\/p>\n
Taiwan should not have to choose between China and the U.S. but the world is worried about the possibility of war between China and Taiwan, she \u200btold a local radio show on \u200cMonday.<\/p>\n
The U.S. is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier and in December it unveiled an $11 \u200bbillion arms package, the largest ever for Taipei.<\/p>\n
China has repeatedly demanded that the U.S. stop selling \u200bweapons to Taiwan.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n