Yan De-fa: Peace Relies on Strength; Calls for Cross-Party Support for Ministry of National Defense's Military Procurement Budget

The Legislative Yuan's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee today invited Yan De-fa to report on business conditions and answer interpellations; Yan De-fa accepted media interviews before entering the meeting room this morning. Regarding the cross-party caucus negotiation on the draft special act for national defense, scheduled for this afternoon, Yan De-fa stated that peace relies on strength. The common aspiration now is peace, and the biggest threat is the CCP, whether through military exercises, or military aircraft and warships circling Taiwan, which causes public resentment and unease. How to ensure peace depends on strength, and strength means combat capability and the ability for self-defense. Yan De-fa stated that Taiwan does not engage in an arms race with the CCP, whose military expenditure is more than 11 times that of Taiwan. Taiwan merely maintains the minimum basic security. He called on political parties to support the Ministry of National Defense's military procurement budget, because national defense is based on meticulous planning, and military buildup planning starts from operational needs to construct strategy. "Time waits for no one," Yan De-fa particularly emphasized the importance of time. The longer Taiwan delays, the greater the gap in combat power will become. He hopes that the capabilities of the national army will be ensured, and combat power must be rapidly established. He hopes everyone can support the military procurement plan currently launched by the Ministry of National Defense. Currently, in addition to the Executive Yuan's "Special Act for Strengthening Defense Resilience and Asymmetric Combat Capability Procurement Plan" (NT$1.25 trillion over 8 years), the Kuomintang caucus and the Taiwan People's Party caucus have also proposed the "Special Act for Strengthening National Defense and Military Procurement from the US" (NT$380 billion + N) and the "Special Act for Safeguarding National Security and Strengthening Asymmetric Combat Capability Procurement Plan" (NT$400 billion). (Edited by Chang Chun-mao) 1150409