MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS

UNCLAS TAIPEI 003323

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/RSP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD -
ROBERT PALLADINO
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS



1. Summary: The Taipei dailies continued August 10 to
focus their coverage on the water shortage in Taoyuan,
and the newly released results of Taiwan's college
entrance examination. Almost all the major Chinese-
language Taipei newspapers also reported in their
inside pages that the Pan-Green political parties and
some pro-independence groups will stage a rally
September 25 to protest the Legislative Yuan's failure
to pass the U.S. arms procurement bill. The pro-
independence "Liberty Times," Taiwan's biggest daily,
was the only Chinese-language newspaper that reported
on its front page a ruling by Taiwan's Ministry of
National Defense High Military Court to give a life
sentence to a major for leaking confidential
information to China.


2. Most newspapers ran editorials on Taiwan's trade
performance, judicial system, and a local gangster's
lawsuit. The pro-independence "Liberty Times" ran an
op-ed piece by an assistant professor of
Interdisciplinary Studies at National Sun Yet-sen
University, Chang Hsi-mo, who wrote that China and the
United States are entering a special type of "New Cold
War" as wrestling between superpowers in the region is
getting increasingly intense. End summary.

"New Cold War Between the United States and China"

Chang Hsi-mo, Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary
Studies at National Sun Yet-sen University, commented
in an op-ed piece in the pro-independence "Liberty
Times" [circulation: 700,000] (8/10):

"The focus of the history of East Asia is shifting from
economics and the war on terrorism to geopolitical
conflicts. Wrestling between superpowers is getting
increasingly intense [in the region], and the
atmosphere is becoming to resemble that of a `New Cold
War' between the United States and China. .

"Changes in the U.S.-China relationship have also
evidently affected the situation on the Korean
Peninsula. The recently held fourth round of the Six
Party Talks was the longest talks that have ever been
held among the six parties. Even though Russia (with
the blessings of China) adopted new moves to
[successfully] disturb Washington's plan, the whole
process [of the talks] showed that the United States'
policy has changed. Washington is showing a strong
interest in maintaining the talks and reaching a
resolution [with regard to the nuclear program on the
Korean Peninsula] in an attempt to take away the `North
Korean card' from China's hands and to create a more
favorable position for itself in its future wrestling
with China.

"All signs show that China and the United States are
now entering a special type of New Cold War. Both
sides remain a major trade partner to the other, but
the geopolitical wrestling between the two, which is
centered on conflicts over energy strategies, is just
heating up."

PAAL