Cablegate: Media Reaction: Hurricane Katrina

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

070854Z Sep 05

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 003703

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/RSP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD -
ROBERT PALLADINO
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: HURRICANE KATRINA

1. Summary: Amid the extensive coverage September 7 of
a corruption scandal involving a local prosecutor and
the aftermath of a recent riot by Thai workers in
Kaohsiung, almost all major Chinese-language Taipei
dailies reported that the U.S. arms procurement bill
was blocked by the Pan-Blue legislative caucuses again
Tuesday. The Chinese-language newspapers, however,
also carried news stories saying KMT Chairman Ma Ying-
jeou and Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng both
agreed Tuesday evening to let the Pan-Blue legislators
review the U.S. arms procurement bill soon.

2. All the Chinese-language Taipei dailies also carried
wire service stories in their inside pages regarding
the situation in New Orleans in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina. In addition, columnist Lin Poh-wen
commented in the centrist "China Times" on the Bush
administration's incompetence in responding quickly and
effectively to disasters and relieving the victims.
Lin said Hurricane Katrina has blown away the mask of
the United States and exposed many ugly aspects of the
United States under Bush's leadership. A separate
commentary in the conservative, pro-unification "United
Daily News" also compared Baghdad with New Orleans and
asked the American people if they have ever thought of
the hunger and rage of the people in Baghdad. End
summary.

A) "Hurricane Katrina Blows down the Signboard of
[President] Bush's Empire"

Columnist Lin Poh-wen commented in the centrist, pro-
status quo "China Times" [circulation: 400,000] (9/7):

"Hundreds of thousands of black victims [of Hurricane
Katrina] are now in an abyss of suffering caused by the
`flood,' while [U.S. President George W.] Bush and his
careless team that have failed to respond efficiently
to the disaster are now suffering from a `heated'
political wound. This is the image of today's United
States of America. .

"Hurricane Katrina has exposed many ugly aspects of the
United States under Bush's leadership. Bush has been
publicly promoting imperialism to the outside world,
while in the meantime, he has been secretly encouraging
racism inside the United States. The federal
government's sluggishness in relieving the victims as
well as the Department of Homeland Security's and the
Federal Emergency Management Agency's incompetence to
respond quickly and effectively to disasters are not
simply a question of ability and bureaucracy but a real
problem caused by racial and hierarchical ideology.
Bush and his administration are clearly aware that the
blacks are not voters for the Republican Party, and
above all, the blacks in the South are poor and weak
and they have neither power nor prestige. How will the
lofty white people ever care about them? In the white
people's hearts, the black are never one among them,
[and this has been true] from the Civil War in the
nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century when
Reverend Martin Luther King bellowed `I have a dream'
and `we shall overcome.' But the cruel fact is that
the life, situation and status of the black people have
hardly improved; every new minority immigrating to the
United States has done better economically. King's
`dream' remains a dream unrealized.

"The hurricane has blown away the mask of the United
States. The world has suddenly come to realize that
the United States has two different faces and two
special ranks - one of the white, rich and prestigious,
and the other of the black, poor and underprivileged. .

"Hurricane Katrina has ravaged Bush's political career,
unveiling to the world the hypocritical and incompetent
aspect of the Republican Party. But unfortunately, it
is the hundreds of thousands of victims that have
become their sacrificial lamb."

B) "From Baghdad to New Orleans"

The "Black and White" column of the conservative, pro-
unification "United Daily News" [circulation: 400,000]
noted (9/5):

"The city of New Orleans, which has been severely
damaged by Hurricane Katrina, has stunned both the
Americans and the world; people are asking: How come
this superpower [of the United States] looks so similar
to an African country at war?

"The question does not lie in the devastation of the
hurricane and flooding, nor does it have anything to do
with the ratio of the black or the poor in the city.
The question lies in the Bush administration's
incompetence to warn [the people] and respond to
disasters efficiently. As a result, the hungry victims
have turned into mobs that rob everyone and everything,
and the delightful and beautiful city of jazz has
turned into a perished city of no order at all. It is
no wonder that the [American] soldiers that have just
returned from Iraq and been sent to New Orleans felt as
though they have returned to Baghdad again. .

"The disorderly city of New Orleans has made the U.S.
government realize that hungry people could turn into
outrageous people. Now, will the American people also
think of the hunger and rage of the people in Baghdad?"

KEEGAN

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