Cablegate: Media Reaction: Presidential Afghanistan Speech, Climate

VZCZCXRO7459
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHBJ #3250 3380913
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 040913Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7071
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS BEIJING 003250

DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/CM, EAP/PA, EAP/PD, C
HQ PACOM FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR (J007)
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL ECON KMDR OPRC CH

SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: PRESIDENTIAL AFGHANISTAN SPEECH, CLIMATE
CHANGE, IRAN

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Editorial Quotes
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1. PRESIDENTIAL AFGHANISTAN SPEECH

"American experts say that the Taliban will once again return to
power"

Elite Reference (Qingnian Cankao), a newspaper affiliated to the
official Communist Youth League China Youth Daily (12/04)(pg 06):
"Obama's plan to increase troops did not gain the support of the
majority of the American people. Of the U.S.' allies, France and
Germany both expressed unwillingness to add troops to Afghanistan
and the UK will only increase its support of the United States by
500 soldiers. Obama is also aware that a prolonged war is not good
and therefore he mentioned that U.S. troops will withdraw in July
2011. Obama's plan to increase troops in Afghanistan will make the
military deployment in the country about 134,000 soldiers.
Realistically, the question is how many more troops Afghanistan, who
is in short of resources, can reasonably take. In Afghanistan due
to excessive resource consumption, the logistics and ineffective
external supply channels of U.S. military troops have been serious
hindered. The U.S. magazine "foreign relations" said that if
Pakistan is unable to crack down on the Taliban by 2010, Afghanistan
will be under their influence. At that time, the Taliban will be
able to control South Afghanistan and will merge with tribal forces
in Pakistan to form a violent central region in South Asia."

2. CLIMATE CHANGE

"Dealing with climate change relies on U.S.-China coordination"(pg
14)

The official Communist Party international news publication Global
Times (Huanqiu Shibao)(12/04)(pg 14): "Zhou Shijian of the
U.S.-China relations studies center at Qinghua University said that
it is more important to look at the feasibility of measures dealing
with climate change, with the precondition that these measures will
not conflict with the interests of concerned countries. Regarding
these interests, the two camps (developed countries and developing
countries), and the three major strengths(the EU, the U.S. and
77-country group plus China) were established during negotiations on
climate change. Undoubtedly China and the United States are the
major strengths. The United States' request that emissions should
peak by 2020 is infeasible. It is predicted that, because China's
modernization and urbanization are unfinished, China's carbon
emissions won't peak until 2030 or 2040. China's view, in fact,
represents most developing countries. Because China identifies as a
developing country, it is impossible for China to always counter the
emissions reduction pressures. It is impossible for the Copenhagen
conference to break apart. The outcome may be a compromise:
developed countries will reduce their emissions by 6% from 2008 to
2020 and leave capital and technological transfer issues for the
future; while developed countries only require developing countries
to change their principles."

3. IRAN

"Iran's tough nuclear policy increases tensions"

The official Communist Party international news publication Global
Times (Huanqiu Shibao)(12/04)(pg 2): "After successive moves by
Iran, the U.S. and UK suggest that Tehran's ultimate goal is to make
nuclear weapons. The Iranian President has taken a tough stance,
claiming that Iran does not need the West, but that the West needs
Iran. Reuters said that Iran has directly rebuffed the UN's nuclear
fuel agreement. The AFP commented that Tehran may be able to
prepare the necessary nuclear fuels for equipping nuclear heads
within several months. However, there are also experts doubting
Iran's technological and industrial abilities. Experts say that
Iran had planned to set up many uranium enrichment bases, which,
however, requires a very long time and is greatly difficult.
Because the country is in short supply of uranium mines, in order
for Iran's tremendous nuclear plan to be realized, Iran has to
purchase uranium from other countries, which, under international
pressure, will be very difficult."

HUNTSMAN

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