TAIPEI, OCT 26, SPA -- The senior American official onTaiwan said Thursday the island's legislature should voteto acquire a long-delayed package of U.S. weapons by year'send to help defend itself against Chinese militaryexpansion, ACCORDING TO AP. The comments by Stephen Young, the head of the de factoU.S. Embassy on the island, represent the strongest U.S. plea to date for opposition lawmakers to stop blocking theUS$16 billion (¤13 billion) package of Patriot missiles,submarines, and submarine-hunting aircraft. The Nationalist and People First parties have leveraged aslight majority in the 221-seat Legislature to keepconsideration of the weapons acquisition bill bottled up incommittee for the past two years. «Taiwan needs to pass a robust defense budget in thisfall's legislative session,» Young said. «(China's)military modernization program over the last ten yearscontinues. The gap (between Taiwan and China) is gettinglarger.» Young is head of the American Institute in Taiwan,established following the switch of U.S. diplomaticrecognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. Despite the change, Washington remains Taiwan's majorforeign backer, and is committed by law to providing itweapons to defend itself against possible Chinese attack. Young made his comments after returning to the island fromconsultations in Washington, where he met withrepresentatives of the State Department, Congress, theNational Security Council and the Department of Defense. He said he encountered great concern about the delay inpassing the package because of China's growing militaryedge over the island. The two sides split amid civil war in 1949, and Beijinghas repeatedly threatened to attack if Taiwan moves toformalize its de facto independence. Opposition lawmakers say they oppose the weapons dealbecause it would force Taiwan into a no-win arms race withits larger communist neighbor. Young acknowledged that Taiwan could not win an arms racewith Beijing, but said it didn't need to in order to detera possible Chinese attack. «(Taiwan) needs to send a signal that it has a defensivecapability that an attack on (it) will exact a highprice,» he said. Young's support for the weapons package reflects the viewsof President Chen Shui-bian, who says the decade-longChinese military buildup _ including the aiming of about800 missiles at major Taiwanese population centers andmilitary and economic installations _ is a fundamentalthreat to Taiwanese security. Chen and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party supportfull independence for the island of 23 million people,while the two opposition parties favor eventual unificationwith the mainland. In initial reaction to Young's remarks, People First Partyleader James Soong pointedly called them unwarrantedinterference in Taiwan's internal affairs. he U.S. «cannot tell us when to pass which piece oflegislation,» he said. There was no immediate comment from Nationalist leader MaYing-jeou, who is widely expected to lead the party intopresidential elections in 2008. Ma has said Taiwan needs a robust defense to deal with thethreat from China, but since becoming party chairman inJuly 2005, has repeatedly failed to follow through onpromises to bring some form of weapons bill to alegislative vote. On Monday the Nationalists reneged on an earlier promiseto allow the arms bill to come up for consideration incommittee following pressure from the PFP to keep it onhold until prosecutors issue a report on alleged corruptionby Chen _ something expected within the next several weeks.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/398221