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Cablegate: Media Reaction: Six-Party Talks

VZCZCXYZ0003
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #4162 3540843
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 200843Z DEC 06
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3499
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 6115
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 7345

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 004162

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: SIX-PARTY TALKS


Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies shifted their
focus on December 20 from local politics to sudden plunges in stock
markets in Thailand and other Asian countries Monday. The
pro-unification "United Daily News" front-paged a news story whose
headline read "[Former President] Lee Teng-hui Supports Frank Hsieh
to Run for Presidency [in 2008]." The local papers, however, gave
very limited reporting and editorial coverage to the Six-Party Talks
currently going on in Beijing. Only one op-ed piece in the
pro-status quo "China Times" discussed the Six-Party Talks and said
the nightmare of global nuclear proliferation might become a reality
if the Six-Party Talks fail to make Pyongyang agree to get rid of
its nuclear weapons. End summary.

"Nightmare of Global Nuclear Proliferation"

To-hai Liou, visiting research fellow at the Australian National
University's Research School of Asia and the Pacific, opined in the
pro-status quo "China Times" [circulation: 400,000] (12/20):

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"... It is certain that if the Six-Party Talks fail to make
Pyongyang agree to get rid of its nuclear weapons, Northeast Asia
will likely become the second area after South Asia to possess
nuclear weapons in the post-Cold War era. Such a development will
also likely turn the nightmare of global nuclear proliferation into
a reality, because countries in the Middle East are waiting for a
favorable moment to make their moves. ... Judged from this
perspective, it is plausible to say that now is the time for a
showdown in the Six-Party Talks. The future development [of the
talks] will bring about changes in the entire East Asian strategic
security tectonic plates and will create a very strong impact on
Taiwan. This writer believes that, based on the final resolution
pattern of the North Korea nuclear issue, three scenarios - namely,
'co-management by China and the United States [over North Korea],'
'tri-polar system formed by China, the United States, and Japan,'
and 'U.S.-China confrontation' - may possibly happen. ..."

WANG

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