"The opposition boycotted the arms purchase bill 41 times and this had a serious impact on strengthening Taiwan's national defense capabilities," said President Chen Shui-bian said.

"I again urge the ruling and opposition parties to enage in rational dialogues ... to discuss the arms purchase in this parliamentarian session," he said at the commissioning ceremony for two of the four destroyers sold to Taiwan.

Chen warned there was a big military imbalance between Taiwan and China with more than 700 ballistic missiles aimed at the island which Beijing regards as part of its territory.

"The military capabilities of the two sides are seriously out of balance. We can't (afford to) put Taiwan's national security and people's welfare in immediate and obvious danger," he said.

Taiwan's opposition parties have blocked the 10-billion-dollar arms purchase package even though the ruling party has scaled it down from 19 billion dollars.

The bill, proposed by the defense ministry, has yet to win approval by the procedure committee of the opposition-controlled parliament, a necessary step before it can be heard in the full house.

The opposition insists the arms bill is illegal after Taiwanese voted against expanded arms purchase in the island's first referendum held simultaneously with presidential polls in March 2004.

The bill's latest version calls for the purchase of eight conventional submarines and 12 P-3C submarine-hunting aircraft from the United States over a 15-year period for around 340 billion Taiwan dollars (10 billion US).

The six PAC-3 Patriot anti-missile systems included in the original bill would be financed by the government's yearly budgets.

Some opposition lawmakers say Taiwan cannot afford the arms deal while others say the equipment would be delivered too slowly to enable the island to keep pace with China's military build-up.

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