Taiwan's Defence Ministry insisted Tuesday the island must buy 18 billion U.S. dollars worth of arms from the United States, defying an appeal for cross-strait arms control by President Chen Shui-bian. "The three major categories of weapons we plan to buy are for countering of the military threats from the Chinese Communists," said Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Huang Shuey-sheng. He said Chen's offer in his National Day address on Sunday would not affect the military's determination to obtain those arms. During his speech, aimed at seeking reconciliation with China, the island's leader proposed that the two sides end their five decades of hostility and move on to talk, control the arms build-up and set "codes of conduct" to avoid creating any unnecessary misunderstanding that could lead to war. Huang said under that since China had no plan to abandon its long-term threat to attack the island, Taipei needs its own defence. "According to the assessments by the military and the United States, Taiwan must build an effective defence force to maintain our security and military balance in the Taiwan Strait," he said. Taiwan, a rival of China since the two sides split at the end of a civil war in 1949, has been under strong pressure from Washington to buy the arms, including Patriot PAC-III anti-missile systems, conventional submarines and P3C anti-submarine aircraft. Washington, which approved the deal in 2001, has repeatedly said Taiwan needs those arms to defend itself and should not merely count on the United States for protection. --SP 1339 Local Time 1039 GMT
