TAIPEI, Oct 5 (AFP) - Washington Tuesday warned there would be "repercussions" for the United States if Taiwan failed to approve a controversial 18-billion-dollar budget for advanced weaponry to defend itself, officials said.
In an interview with Taiwan's TVBS cable network, Richard Lawless, a deputy undersecretary at the US Defense Department, voiced concern about the special budget waiting approval by Taiwan's parliament.
"It will be regarded as a signal, if you will, as the attitude of the legislation towards the national defense of Taiwan," Lawless said in Arizona where a three-day defense industry conference was underway.
"If the budget failed to pass, or if a decision was made not to pass the budget, it will have repercussions for the United States, will have repercussions for Taiwan's friends," he said without elaborating.
Former US defense secretary William Cohen echoed Lawless' concerns.
Lawless and Taiwan's Deputy Defense Minister General Houh Shoou-yeh were key speakers at the opening Sunday of the United States-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Scottsdale.
The United States has remained the leading arms supplier to Taiwan despite its switching of diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
Under the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, the United States is obliged to defend Taiwan should it be attacked and to provide arms "of a defensive nature" to the island.
The controversial special defense budget calls for purchase of six US-made Pac-3 anti-missile systems, eight conventional submarines and a fleet of submarine-hunting P-3C aircraft, over a 15-year period from 2005.
The budget, already approved by the cabinet, has met opposition in parliament.
Some critics say Taiwan cannot afford the massive arms spending while others say the new weaponry will not be delivered in time to help the island fend off any attack from China in coming years.
Others say it could fuel an arms race with Beijing, which regards the island as a renegade province and has vowed to retake it by force if Taipei declares formal independence.
The government insists Taipei badly needs the weaponry in the face of a sustained arms buildup by Beijing, which has 600 ballistic missiles targeting the island.