Taiwan's National Day, President Chen calls for military defence

Taipei(AsiaNews/Scmp) - Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian intensified on Monday calls for a massive arms build-up to thwart what he said was a growing military threat from 730 chinese ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan. Chen speaks to a crowd gathered to celebrate the island's National Day, Double Tenth or October 10, that marks the anniversary of the 1911 overthrowing of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China.

President Chen speaks after his recent five-nation state visit to Latin American allies and stopovers in three non-allies, the US, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia.

"Taiwan must not rely on some other countries to defend itself," he said, referring to the controversial US billion (HK billion) arms package approved by US in 2001.

Addressing the crowd outside the Presidential Office, Mr Chen accused the opposition of repeatedly shooting down his arms bill even though the total cost has been scaled back from the original US billion.

The opposition – nationalist party Kuomintang (KMT) and People First Party (PFP), who seek improved ties with Beijing - insists the bill is illegal after Taiwanese voted against expanded arms purchase in the island's first referendum held simultaneously with presidential polls in March 2004.

According to a survey conducted by a Taipei-based media, Mr Chen's popularity has dropped to a record low of 25 per cent, with sixty-one per cent saying the ruling Democratic Progressive Party had abandoned its ideals of bringing progress and democracy to Taiwan.

Mr Chen is aware of the image problem and told supporters he would announce measures to clean up his government in his National Day speech.

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