Cablegate: Media Reaction: Cross-Strait Relations, U.S.-Taiwan

VZCZCXYZ0004
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #3602/01 2930855
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 200855Z OCT 06
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2694
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5807
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 7022

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 003602

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD - DAVID FIRESTEIN
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: CROSS-STRAIT RELATIONS, U.S.-TAIWAN
RELATIONS, U.S. ARMS PROCUREMENTS

1. Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused
coverage October 20 on the year-end Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral
races; and on National Taiwan University Hospital's decision
Thursday to turn down a request from President Chen Shui-bian's
son-in-law to resume his duties as a physician on the grounds that
he has "seriously violated medical ethics." Both the pro-status quo
"China Times" and the pro-unification "United Daily News"
front-paged the breakdown in negotiations between KMT Chairman Ma
Ying-jeou and People First Party James Soong over the Blue camp's
candidate for the Taipei mayoral election in December. The "United
Daily News," in addition, devoted half of its page seven to an
exclusive interview with senior Bush administration officials and an
analysis of Washington's relations with the Chen Shui-bian
administration. The interview was run with a banner headline that
said "Senior U.S. Official: Bian Should Not Use Ad Hoc Referendum
out of the Blue to Interfere with Constitutional Reforms."

With regard to U.S.-Taiwan arms sales, the pro-independence "Liberty
Times," Taiwan's largest-circulation daily, ran a banner headline on
page two that read "Ruling and Opposition Parties Agree That Arms
Procurement Bill Will Be Reviewed by Procedural Committee Next
Week."

2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, a "Liberty Times"
editorial discussed China's ambitious attempts to contain and
isolate Taiwan diplomatically in the international community. A
"United Daily News" analysis discussed Washington's communication
and relations with the Chen administration, saying that the United
States only hopes that President Chen will not cause any trouble
during the remainder of his term of office. An editorial in the
limited-circulation, pro-independence, English-language "Taipei
Times" discussed U.S. arms procurement and criticized the Blue camp
for blocking the arms procurement bill, undermining Taiwan's
security, and damaging Taiwan's relations with the United States.
End summary.

3. Cross-Strait Relations

"Can [We] Continue to Turn a Blind Eye to China's Containment of
Taiwan's Foreign Relations?"

The pro-independence "Liberty Times" [circulation: 600,000]
editorialized (10/20):

"... Western countries have always expected that China, which rose
peacefully, as it claimed, can play the role of a responsible large
country to foster peace and stability in the international
community. But judging from the examples of Iran, North Korea, and
Sudan, China is nothing but a troublemaker. In order to confront
the United States, China has been supporting certain rogue states,
both implicitly and explicitly, providing them with economic, food,
and energy aid as well as weapons, thus giving western countries
headed by the United States a hard time. Of course, Taiwan remains
the first to bear the brunt of China's diplomatic attacks. Both the
ruling and opposition parties in Taiwan must stop their endless
in-fighting and join hands to deal with China's diplomatic
containment, or our nation will be stretched too thin on the
diplomatic front, while severe in-fighting continues on the island.
China will easily lure away all our allies, and should it really
happen, it will be more difficult for an internationally-isolated
Taiwan to defend itself against China's ambitions of invading and
annexing the island. ..."

4. U.S.-Taiwan Relations

"Bian Is Flip-flopping; United States Only Hopes He Will Not Cause
Any Trouble Again"

Journalists Sun Yang-ming and Vincent Chang noted in an analysis in
the pro-unification "United Daily News" [circulation: 400,000]
(10/20):

"During an exclusive interview with this newspaper, senior officials
of the Bush administration implicitly asked the journalists to judge
whether or not Washington still has faith in President Chen
Shui-bian. This move actually reflected the experience the Bush
administration has gained from its dealing with Chen over the past
few years. Chen has been flip-flopping in his words and deeds, and
many officials, during exclusive interviews with this paper, have
used sentences like 'friends don't cause surprises' and 'friends
must be trustworthy' tactfully to spell out the United States'
ardent 'expectations' for Chen. But still, Chen remains unchanged,
forcing Washington to [talk to him] in plain language; words such as
'seriously concerned,' 'take very seriously,' and 'keep one's word'
have long become the official platitudes used by Washington to
respond to Chen. ...

"During this interview, it is obvious that the United States' policy
RELATIONS, U.S. ARMS PROCUREMENTS

toward Taiwan at the current stage is to hope the Chen
administration will not make any more mistakes. It will be
auspicious for the Chen administration smoothly to finish the last
two years of Chen's term. What is more interesting with regard to
one senior [U.S.] official's remarks was that Chen, because of the
high threshold for amending the Constitution, will likely bypass the
Legislative Yuan and take advantage of a referendum to work out a
constitution that he personally desires. ...

"Without a doubt, Washington's request for Taiwan is that everything
should be done according to democratic procedures and law, but [it]
must not touch on the red line. In other words, the United States
has made things very clear with regard to the bottom line of Chen's
constitutional reforms, and even the possible ways he might adopt
for constitutional reforms. Washington will not tolerate it should
Chen deliberately touch on the 'red line,' no matter whether it is
part of the democratic process or not. ..."

5. U.S. Arms Procurements

"Enough Games: Approve the Budget"

The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation:
20,000] editorialized (10/20):

"So the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus has said
it is finally prepared to allow the contentious arms procurement
package to move forward. We've heard all this before. ... Despite
KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's promises, when he said in August that he
backed the effort to procure several major weapons systems from the
US, the KMT caucus still voted to keep the budget off the
legislative agenda on Tuesday. ...

"The simple truth is that no one in the KMT is willing to stand up
and defend his or her party's record on this issue, because it is
indefensible. The KMT has undermined the nation's security, damaged
Taiwan's relations with the US and turned the deliberative processes
of the legislature into a charade. Since 2003, rumors have been
flying around daily about imminent deals being reached over the
defense budget. None have turned out to be true. ... So, enough
excuses from the KMT. Pass the budget."

YOUNG

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