Lawmakers give Cabinet nod to sign LOAs for 4 U.S. weapons systems

Taipei, March 12 (CNA) The Legislature is expected to allow the Cabinet to sign Letters of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) for four U.S. weapons systems due to expire this month, following cross-party talks Thursday.

The four systems -- M109A7 self-propelled howitzers, Javelin anti-armor missiles, TOW 2B missiles and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) -- form the bulk of a US$11.1 billion arms package announced by the United States in December.

The package also includes Altius-600 and Altius-700M drones, though LOAs for those systems have yet to be issued.

The Taiwan People's Party (TPP), Kuomintang (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucuses agreed to include HIMARS in the motion after Huang Wen-chi (黃文啟), head of the Ministry of National Defense's Department of Strategic Planning, said ammunition would be removed from the package if Taiwan missed a March 26 signing deadline.

LOAs for the three other systems have a March 15 deadline.

• Taiwan receives U.S. acceptance letter for HIMARS: Koo

Thursday's revised motion, which also directs the Cabinet to inform the Legislature of the estimated delivery dates for the four systems, is expected to be approved at a plenary session, where the TPP and KMT together hold a majority.

A request by DPP lawmakers to remove wording criticizing the ruling party's "extremely opaque" handling of a proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.30 billion) special defense budget was rejected.

Similarly, KMT and TPP lawmakers declined to grant the Cabinet prior approval to sign an LOA for the Altius drones.

At an all-member meeting last week, the TPP tabled a motion authorizing the Cabinet to sign the first three LOAs.

The proposal was sent to a second reading after gaining cross-party backing, but cross-caucus talks were required before it could advance further.