Office of the President Republic of China(Taiwan)

Taoyuan County, July 10 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian defended Thursday his administration's policy of increasing the public debt in order to finance infrastructure construction projects as a stimulus to the stagnating economy. "There is still room for the government to issue public bonds to raise funds for major infrastructure construction projects, if we compare the situation with the outstanding debt ratios of several advanced countries such as Germany, the United States and Japan, " Chen said during a visit to the Taoyuan county government.

Chen recalled that during an April 13 meeting with nine mayors and magistrates of counties who are not members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) , Taoyuan County Magistrate Chu Li-lun proposed that the government complete the revision of the Law Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures and of the Public Debt Law as soon as possible in order to expand the limit of public debt.

Currently, the government's outstanding debt is only 33.3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), which is far lower than Japan's 142.7 percent, Germany's 62.4 percent and America's 60.7 percent, Chen said. Consequently, the government still has room to move in the area of public debt, he went on.

Chen disclosed that his administration plans to invest NT$300 billion (US$8.7 billion) in the next three years to expand major infrastructure construction, such as a mass rapid transit system linking Chiang Kai-shek International Airport -- Taiwan's main gateway -- to downtown Taipei.

Noting that building Taiwan into a regional operations center and expanding various infrastructure projects are two priority tasks that the government will carry out in its efforts to improve the economy, Chen said that the passage of a bill allowing the establishment of free trade harbor zones will be closely related to the future development of CKS airport and Taoyuan County.

The head of state voiced the hope that Chu, a member of the main opposition Kuomintang, will exert pressure over his party lawmakers to persuade them to support the early passage of revisions for the Public Debt Law and the Law Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures.