Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05TAIPEI1750
2005-04-12 09:14:00
CONFIDENTIAL
American Institute Taiwan, Taipei
Cable title:  

KMT VICE CHAIR CHIANG PROVIDES READOUT OF BEIJING

Tags:  PREL PGOV PINR 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 001750 

SIPDIS

STATE PASS AIT/W

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR CH TW
SUBJECT: KMT VICE CHAIR CHIANG PROVIDES READOUT OF BEIJING
VISIT

REF: TAIPEI 1724

Classified By: AIT Director Douglas Paal, Reason: 1.4 (B/D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 001750

SIPDIS

STATE PASS AIT/W

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR CH TW
SUBJECT: KMT VICE CHAIR CHIANG PROVIDES READOUT OF BEIJING
VISIT

REF: TAIPEI 1724

Classified By: AIT Director Douglas Paal, Reason: 1.4 (B/D)


1. (C) Summary: KMT Vice Chairman P.K. Chiang provided the
AIT Director a readout April 11 of his late March visit to
the Mainland. Chiang said that he was not involved in the
planning for the visit and only learned about arrangements
for senior level meetings with PRC officials in Beijing just
days before his departure. Chiang revealed that he had
considered postponing his visit in response to a request from
Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu, but said
that KMT HQ insisted on proceeding, citing a plurality in
support of the visit. Chiang disputed charges that he had
signed any agreement with PRC officials in Beijing. In
addition to the "Ten Points" reported in the press, Chiang
said that he pressed PRC leaders to facilitate Taiwan's
participation in the World Health Organization (WHO) and not
block Taipei's Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with
third countries. Chiang also told his interlocutors that the
PRC's enactment of the Anti-Secession Law antagonized the
Taiwan public and urged them to consider how their policies
look from Taiwan's perspective. End Summary.


2. (C) KMT Vice Chairman P.K. Chiang provided the AIT
Director a readout April 11 of his late March visit to the
PRC (Reftel reports on Chiang's views of the domestic fallout
from his trip). Chiang said that he was asked to travel to
the Mainland by KMT Chairman Lien Chan on February 27, but
intentionally left the details of his visit to KMT party
staff. Chiang said that he was told that he would be going
in either early or late March, depending on the atmospherics
on each side. Chiang said that the details of the visit were
not entirely clear to him even after the trip got underway.
Chiang told the AIT Director that when he was originally
asked to travel to the Mainland, the plan was only to visit
Guangzhou, Nanjing, and Shanghai to pay homage at key
historical memorials and to call on Association for Relations
Across the Strait (ARATS) Chairman Wang Daohan. He was only
informed of the planned travel to Beijing and meetings with

senior PRC leaders within a week of his departure.


3. (C) Chiang said he did ask the KMT to reconsider the
timing of the visit after MAC Chairman Joseph Wu asked him on
March 21 to postpone his trip in order not to undermine
Taiwan's response to the Anti-Secession Law. Chiang added
that he received similar advice from other people. However,
Chiang said that KMT HQ insisted on proceeding with the
visit, citing a public opinion poll showing 44 percent of the
public supported going ahead with the visit, versus only 31
percent against.

Chiang Visit: Trade and Taiwan's International Space
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Chiang said that he was provided with a ten-point set
of talking points by KMT Mainland Affairs Director Chang
Jung-kong shortly before arriving in Beijing. Noting that he
was familiar with the initiatives on the list, Chiang said he
decided to present the items to his main PRC host, Taiwan
Affairs Office (TAO) Director Chen Yunlin, grouped into three
parts -- those related to facilitating Taiwan business
activities on the Mainland, those dealing with
social/cultural exchanges, and those that would require
government-led agreements. Chiang said that it was clear the
PRC side was confused by his decision to reorganize his
presentation, having apparently been informed ahead of time
of both the contents of his points and their order. Chiang
added that the delegation's PRC interlocutors were also taken
aback by the aggressive questioning by the dozen legislators
on Chiang's delegation, each of whom raised their own pet
issues with the PRC. Chiang dismissed accusations that he
violated Taiwan law by signing an accord with the PRC
government, noting that the two sides did not initial any
document during the visit. Chiang said the "Ten Points
Agreement" talked about in the media only represented a set
of "preliminary conclusions" (chubu jielun) based on the
PRC's responses to questions raised by the Taiwan side.


5. (C) In addition to the economic issues raised following
his March 30 dinner with Chen Yunlin, Chiang said he used his
meetings to raise several political issues. During his
meetings with PRC leaders Jia Qinglin and Tang Jiaxuan,
Chiang said he emphasized that Taiwan's people were deeply
upset by the PRC's Anti-Secession Law, pointing to the large
turnout at the March 26 rally in Taipei as a manifestation of
this sentiment. Chiang urged his interlocutors to think
about cross-Strait relations through the lens of Taipei, not
Beijing. "I told them that they may have tried to target 20
percent of the Taiwan public through their new law," Chiang
stated, "but they ended up upsetting the other 80 percent as
well." Chiang said he also pressed PRC leaders to find a
formula for Taiwan observership in the World Health
Organization (WHO) and for Taiwan to negotiate Free Trade
Agreements (FTA) with other countries. While Tang Jiaxuan
said Beijing was working with the WHO Secretariat on a
formula to allow Taiwan to take part in WHO activities,
Chiang said his interlocutors ignored his points on FTAs.
Chiang said that none of his PRC interlocutors responded to
his statement that the KMT would never compromise on the
existence of the "Republic of China."

PRC Not Excluding Soong
--------------


6. (C) Chiang said that Chen Yunlin carefully chose his words
when he said that Beijing would welcome visits by "any person
or party who acknowledged the '1992 consensus' and opposed
Taiwan independence." Chiang said this formula was clearly
intended to include People First Party (PFP) Chairman James
Soong, disputing reports (put out by the KMT) that Beijing
has rejected Soong as an interlocutor because of his recent
contacts with President Chen Shui-bian. Chiang said that the
invitation he conveyed to Lien Chan to visit the Mainland
later in the year contained no details. Chiang said he was
not privy to KMT's current plans for the Lien visit nor has
he taken part in any subsequent meetings within the KMT over
the party's ongoing contacts with its PRC counterpart.

Comment: Amateur Hour at the KMT
--------------


7. (C) Despite his role as head of the KMT delegation, Chiang
appeared to be simply along for the ride. While KMT
officials have told AIT that staff-level prep work for recent
contacts began nearly a year ago, Chiang said he still had
not been informed of the content and background for the KMT's
outreach when he departed for the Mainland. Despite KMT
boasts over the extensive groundwork laid out for the visit,
its handling of the trip appears to have been shoddy. Rather
than calling on its extensive network of former cross-Strait
officials, the KMT appears to be relying on a small group of
partisan political operators to run its outreach to Beijing.
This has likely made it easier for Beijing to manipulate the
process to achieve its own ends. While Chiang told AIT that
he intended to press Lien to do a better job of preparing for
his proposed visit, Lien and his advisors do not appear to be
actively soliciting Chiang's advice.
PAAL