Defense ministry to buy time from U.S. to avoid derailing arms sales

Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said on Friday that it has received letters of offer and acceptance (LOA) for three systems covered by the Cabinet's NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.56 billion) special defense budget bill and will seek to extend the documents' term of validity to avoid stymieing the weapons sales.

The LOAs, which will expire on March 15, are for M109A7 self-propelled howitzers (US$4.03 billion), Javelin anti-armor missiles (US$375 million) and TOW missiles (US$353 million), which are included in a historic US$11.1 billion U.S. arms sales package to Taiwan announced on Dec. 17.

Under arms sales procedures, if U.S. approval is not obtained to extend the validity period for signing the LOAs, Taiwan will be required to make the initial payment by March 31, the MND said in a statement on Friday.

Citing obstacles facing the bill's review, the MND said it will actively seek an extension of the LOA signing period from the U.S. to avoid the cancellation of the entire package due to failure to sign by the deadline.

The MND urged the Legislature to complete the review of the bill as soon as possible to facilitate efforts to build Taiwan's self-defense capabilities and combat readiness.

The opposition Kuomintang and Taiwan People's Party have been blocking the review of the bill -- which includes around NT$900 billion reserved for arms procurement from the U.S. and NT$300 billion to fund domestic weapons production -- since President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) unveiled it in November. They have criticized the spending plan as "opaque" and compared it to a "blank cheque."

The MND last month held a classified meeting at the Legislature, briefing lawmakers on all the items to be purchased from the United States and their individual estimated costs.

Speaking to reporters in Taichung last month, Lt. Gen. Huang Wen-chi (黃文啟), head of the MND's Department of Strategic Planning, warned that if the defense ministry does not sign the LOAs, it could restart the entire arms sale procedure, in which case the LOAs would have to be reviewed again.

If the Cabinet's special defense budget proposal keeps languishing in the Legislature and the MND cannot sign the LOA, the arms sales package could be derailed, Huang said.