Thai PM defends arms procurement

Prime minister Prayuth Chan o Cha has defended the decision to include the procurement of weapons for the armed forces in the budget bill for 2021, after coming under fire from the opposition.

At stake is a US$7.2 billion budget for next year, part of the government’s US$106.5 billion budget.

The opposition has demanded the armed forces stop the procurement of weapons, including submarines, saying the defence budget should be cut to help solve the nation’s economic problems and other contingency plans in the aftermath of Covid-19.

However, the prime minister insists that each arms procurement project takes several years to complete as military hardware takes a long time to produce and import.

“Because we have not received a lot of funds lately to buy new weapons and other military hardware, 70 to 80 per cent of existing ones are old and need to be replaced.

“Doing so would cut the high cost of maintenance.

“Our mission is to protect the country’s sovereignty along the borders, and we have to be prepared for any new skirmish or fight, no matter if it will happen or not,” he added.

The Bangkok Post reports him as saying that aside from building up arms for any security threats, the armed forces will also need updated weapons to fulfil their security cooperation obligations with other countries.

He said military technology constantly gets updated, and it is important for the kingdom’s armed forces to have modern arms.

Prayuth said the number of military personnel is one third of what it used to be because the government had decided to cut the defence budget.

Opposition leader Sompong Amornvivat had accused the government of adopting old-fashioned methods of budgetary planning that focus more on old projects that do not fit the needs of the country, such as construction and canal dredging.

The government should have focused more on projects to help emerging businesses catch up with changing consumer behaviour and upgrade agricultural products, said the opposition Pheu Thai Party MP for Chiang Mai.

Sompong said the budget should fund work skills development initiatives that were important to make the economy grow sustainably.

“We no longer want to see the government give out cash to encourage the people to travel more.”