The US Congressional Research Service (CRS) published recently a report on traditional weaponry deals by developing countries, in which detailed arms purchase volumes of world major countries and regions are listed by stages. The report shows that from 1996 to 2003, Taiwan spent a total amount nearing US$20 billion in arms purchasing, ranking world second and next only to Saudi Arabia.

Statistics show that over 95 percent weaponry Taiwan purchased is from the United States. According to Taiwan-based military magazine Defense Technology Monthly, from 1996 to now, Taiwan has reached more than 50 arms deals with the United States, including 300 M-60A3 tanks, 21 AH-1W helicopters, 9 CH-47 helicopters, 249 Harpoon missiles, 200 AIM-120C advanced medium-range, air-to-air missiles, one Anchorage-class dock landing ship, two E-2T early-warning aircraft, three sets of "Patriot II" missile system and four Kidd-class destroyers (not yet delivered).

Since 2004, the United States has particularly gone beyond the arms sale limits to Taiwan by promising the island AGM-88 "Harm" high-speed, anti-radiation missile. It also helped the island to update and modify its F-16 and "Ching-kuo" fighters and equipped them with "Pathfinder/Sharpshooter". All these plus "Maverick" missiles have enabled Taiwan to attack important strategic targets of the mainland.

On June 23 this year, Washington announced that it would produce long-range early-warning radar to lift the island army's early-warning capacity above 3,000 kilometers. Under US aid, Taiwan-developed medium-and-long-range cruise missile "Hsiung Feng 2E" will soon enter batch production, and its intelligence satellite program is in full swing. The Taiwan authorities are still actively pushing new deals. It is predictable that in a time to come Taiwan's arms purchase will remain among world tops.

For a long time, the island's crazy acquisition of foreign weaponry has resulted in heavy economic burden on the general public. In 2003, Taiwan "Ministry of Defense" went so far as proposing a 610.8 billion new Taiwan dollars (about US$17.75 billion) military spending budget. Currently, Taiwan's military expenditure per one million people is US$340 million, the highest in Asia.

By People's Daily Online