PRESIDENT CHEN, UNDER POST-ELECTION PRESSURE,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 004076 SIPDIS STATE PASS AIT/W E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/27/2014 TAGS: PREL PGOV CH TW SUBJECT: PRESIDENT CHEN, UNDER POST-ELECTION PRESSURE, CLAIMS U.S. ENVOY APPROVED HIS POLICIES REF: A. TAIPEI 3988 ¶B. TAIPEI 3918 AND PRECEDING Classified By: AIT Director Douglas H. Paal, Reason: 1.4 (B/D) ¶1. (C) Summary. Post-December 11 election jockeying within the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and between Green and Blue alliances continues in ways that may affect cross-Strait and U.S. relations. Members of the DPP's New Tide faction are publicly and messily blaming President Chen Shui-bian for failing to gain a better election result due to his efforts to stir voters' pro-independence sentiment. Chen is being accused of damaging U.S. relations in the process. He is staying above the internecine fray while using supporters to fight back. A long weekend of highly public intra-DPP bickering was capped Monday morning, December 27, by a front page banner headline in the pro-independence "Liberty Times" proclaiming "Secret U.S. Emissary Met President Chen, Said Taiwan-U.S. Relations Unchanged," and "confirmed approval of President Chen's performance." End Summary. ¶2. (C) The DPP's perceived loss in the December 11 legislative elections continues to reverberate through Taiwan ("perceived loss" because, despite gaining two seats, the DPP failed to meet President Chen's stated expectations for pan-Green majority). The post-election political maneuvering involves not only inter-party politics, with the pan-Blue alliance pressing its thin majority for increased leverage, but also within the ruling DPP itself, with its increasingly outspoken factions jockeying with a wounded President for ministerial and party posts and increased influence in the new government. ¶3. (C) The pragmatic -- vice ideologically-driven -- New Tide faction has taken the offensive within the DPP, criticizing President Chen for his use of sensitive independence-related rhetoric during the campaign. The New Tide believes this backfired and alienated centrist voters and damaged Taiwan,s relations with the U.S. Maverick New Tider Lin Cho-shui fired the opening salvo on Friday evening, December 24, publicly criticizing Chen's foreign policy, charging that Chen's rhetoric had used up Taiwan's credit with the U.S., and urging Chen to improve relations with the U.S. The New Tide attack hit home because, as the largest and electorally most successful DPP faction, it will be crucial for DPP prospects in local elections next December. ¶4. (C) Chen himself has appeared to stay above the political fray since December 11 and kept discreetly out of the debate over the weekend as the DPP quarrel escalated in the media. He was, however, represented by a phalanx of advisors who fought back, casting aspersions on the critics' loyalty to the President and to Taiwan and rebutting their charges. Presidential Office Secretary General Chiou I-jen, himself a New Tide leader, was placed in the awkward position of defending his management of U.S. relations while protecting his faction. He told the press on December 25 that Lin's charges were "far from the truth" and that actually Taiwan-U.S. relations had entered a new period of friction as the U.S. comes to understand that democracy on Taiwan will be accompanied by increasing Taiwan identity. The quarrel become so public that DPP Central Discussion Committee Chair Kao Chi-peng called a press conference Sunday morning, December 26, to urge DPP factions not to air their criticisms in public, but rather to present and discuss them internally. ¶5. (U) The weekend of DPP internecine warfare and the defense of President Chen culminated in a front page banner headline in the pro-Green "Liberty Times" on December 27: "Secret U.S. Envoy Met President Chen, Said Taiwan-U.S. Relations Unchanged." According to the report, "a high level Taiwan government official (shouzhang)" -- terminology suggesting Office of the President involvement -- revealed that an "extremely high level U.S. representative secretly visited Taipei before Christmas, confirmed U.S. support for President Chen,s performance, and stressed there is now no misunderstanding between Taiwan and the U.S. Taiwan and the U.S., the report continued, wanted to maintain "this second channel of communication used by Special Envoys like (former NSC Senior Asia Director James) Moriarty." ¶6. (C) Comment. Under attack, President Chen pulled out all stops and, via his palace guard, fought back against his critics within the DPP. The "Special Envoy" press report suggests that, despite the DPP election setback and Chen,s subsequent lower profile, he and DPP insiders continue capable of putting partisan political advantage above foreign policy considerations. The intra-DPP imbroglio may have receded from the headlines; DPP Deputy Secretary General Lee Ying-yuan told AIT the weekend dust-up occurred in the power vacuum left by Chen Shui-bian's resignation as Party Chairman. The Presidential Office use of a heavy-handed "U.S. card" will produce its own after-effects as speculation and responses to it play out in the media and in talk shows. Beijing may want to know if the U.S. secretly told Chen it approves his performance. During the election campaign, Pan-Green leaders dismissed criticisms of playing politics with national security and damaging Taiwan-U.S. relations over the past two years, replying that relations would be "mended" after the election. This latest development continues the pattern of the past two years. End Comment. PAAL