The Taiwan parliament on Friday approved part of a controversial bill to buy modern weapons from the United States, following a five-year delay and debate, according to dpa. Parliament approved the 6-million-dollar (US dollars) budget for evaluating the purchase of eight diesel submarines while cancelling an earlier 130-million-dollar budget for the purchase. The two-part budget was drawn up because buying submarines from the US is a complicated process as the US has stopped producing conventional submarines and will have to re-open the production line or find a foreign shipyard to build the vessels for Taiwan. Parliament also passed the 184.8-million-dollar budget for buying 12 P3-C anti-submarine aircraft, but cancelled the 342- million-dollar budget for buying PAC-III anti-missile defence system. Instead, it approved a budget of 106 million dollars for a US upgrade of Taiwan's PAC-II anti-missile defence system. US President George W Bush approved the arms sales package to Taiwan in April 2001, to help Taiwan defend itself against an attack by China. Taiwan drew up a 1 billion-dollar budget to buy the arms, but some lawmakers have been blocking the passing of the budget, citing high cost and late delivery. Over the years, the US has repeatedly warned Taiwan that it may not come to Taiwan's aid if Taipei was not willing to boost its own defence capability. The US dropped Taiwan to recognize China in 1979, but signed the Taiwan Relations Act pledging to continue to sell defensive arms to Taiwan. The largest US arms sale to Taiwan was in 1992 when former US president George Bush, the father of the current US president, approved the sale of 150 F-16 warplanes to Taiwan, triggering strong protests from Beijing.
