Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04TAIPEI4076
2004-12-27 21:29:00
CONFIDENTIAL
American Institute Taiwan, Taipei
Cable title:  

PRESIDENT CHEN, UNDER POST-ELECTION PRESSURE,

Tags:  PREL PGOV CH TW 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
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)

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