Taiwan risks losing its military edge over ideological foe China — and support from the United States — if parliament fails to approve a US$15 billion arms budget, a senior defense ministry official said.The United States, which recognizes China and not Taiwan, offered the package of advanced weapons in 2001 in what would be the biggest arms sale to Taiwan in more than a decade. Taiwan has since cut its budget for the arms from $18 billion to $15 billion “Failure to pass the arms purchase bill means our fighting power cannot be improved at a time when Communist China’s defense spending is growing at double-digit percentage points every year,” Hu Chen-pu, director-general of the General Political Warfare Bureau, told Reuters late on Monday.Full Story