MEDIA REACTION: BUSH-HU MEETING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 003825

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD - ERIC
BARBORIAK
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: BUSH-HU MEETING



1. Summary: Major Chinese-language Taipei dailies
focused their coverage September 15 on the meeting
between U.S. President George W. Bush and Chinese
President Hu Jintao in New York Tuesday, the failure of
Taiwan's U.N. bid, and the opposition parties' boycott
of legislative affairs in the Legislative Yuan. The
pro-independence "Liberty Times," Taiwan's biggest
daily, ran a banner headline on its page two that read:
"Bush-Hu meeting: Bush urges Hu to engage in a dialogue
with the [Chen Shui-] Bian administration." The pro-
unification "United Daily News,' however, reported the
Bush-Hu meeting from a different perspective; it said
in a front page news story: "Hu Jintao meets with Bush:
[Hu] hopes [the United States] will join it to maintain
peace across the Taiwan Strait." The newspaper also
spent almost half of its second page reporting on the
issues discussed in the Bush-Hu meeting, and one of the
news stories was topped with the headline: "Hu invites
[Bush] to jointly manage the Taiwan Strait; Bush
replies with the one China [policy]."


2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, Washington
correspondent Norman Fu said in the centrist "China
Times" that China's current policy is to constrain
Taiwan independence via the United States. Fu also
suggested that the DPP government realize this
development and give up the dream of declaring
independence. Dr. Cheng Tuan-yao, Chief of the
Institute of International Relations' American and
European Studies Division, National Cheng-chi
University, said in the conservative, pro-unification
"United Daily News" that in the face of the
increasingly interdependent and constraining
development of Washington-Beijing ties, Taiwan needs to
ponder how many bargaining chips it can still get hold
of in coping with Beijing's "offenses" and how much
"credibility" Taiwan still has to seek the U.S.
support. End summary.

A) "Bush-Hu Summit and Taiwan"

Washington correspondent Norman Fu said in the
"Washington Lookout" column of the centrist, pro-status
quo "China Times" [circulation: 400,000] (9/15):

". It is evident that Beijing's current strategy is to
restrain Taiwan independence via the United States.
That's why [Chinese President] Hu Jintao said openly
that he wants `the United States to join the Chinese
side' to safeguard stability across the Taiwan Strait
and oppose Taiwan independence.' Washington requires
Beijing's assistance when it comes to major issues such
as North Korea and the war on terrorism, and `Taiwan
independence' also fails to meet the United States'
interests. As a result, it has gradually become a
joint strategic objective for both Beijing and
Washington not to support Taiwan independence. If the
DPP government fails to realize such a development and
continue to dream of declaring independence, it will be
too late for everything when it finally wakes up to the
truth.

"Ever since the DPP became the ruling party, the `de-
sinicization' movement promoted inside Taiwan in an
effort to create new recognition and a new identity for
Taiwan have achieved certain results. But these
results are evident on this island only; [the DPP]
still fails to get out of the `little box' [it is in]
once it steps out of Taiwan. In the foreseeable
future, it will only be more difficult for Taiwan to
try to get out of the little box."

B) "Bush-Hu Meeting: `United States Joining the Chinese
Side;' How Is Taiwan Going to Resist [Such a
Development]?"

Dr. Cheng Tuan-yao, Chief of the Institute of
International Relations' American and European Studies
Division, National Cheng-chi University, commented in
the conservative, pro-unification "United Daily News"
[circulation: 400,000] (9/15):

". [During Tuesday's meeting between U.S. President
George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao,]
Beijing still regarded the Taiwan issue as a top
priority and has, to most people's surprise, adopted a
very tough approach toward the issue. In addition to
reiterating Beijing's previous requests that Washington
continue to `abide by the one China policy, three Sino-
American joint communiqus and the position opposing
Taiwan independence,' Hu also added that he `hopes the
United States will join China in maintaining peace and
stability across the Taiwan Strait and opposing Taiwan
independence.' The key words in Hu's remarks are
`[both sides] working jointly to maintain [cross-Strait
peace]' because it is a concept and behavior of joint
cooperation and management. . The fact that Hu has
formally brought up this concept is of grave
significance. It indicated Beijing's official position
that it will never waver when it comes to opposing
independence. In the meantime, it also revealed that
Beijing is getting more and more pragmatic and
confident in dealing with the Taiwan issue - namely,
Beijing has made a great breakthrough from its previous
practices of disliking the United States' involvement
in the cross-Strait issues, to constraining Taiwan via
the United States in the late Jiang Zemin period, and
finally, to Hu's inviting Washington now to work with
China to jointly maintain cross-Strait peace and oppose
Taiwan independence. .
"In a nutshell, the Bush-Hu meeting in New York
revealed that both sides have different priorities
regarding the issues that need to be discussed, and
they have different objectives and requests. In the
meantime, Beijing and Washington each has its own
bargaining chips while they are unable to solve any
individual issue without the other's help; they both
need each other's goodwill responses. This kind of
relationship that requires cooperation from both sides
while at the same time both sides are restrained by
each other is, without doubt, the image of the current
Washington-Beijing ties. [The features of] such type
of a relationship will grow more evident as
interactions between the two sides increase and
Beijing's power expands. That is why the Bush
administration has repeatedly emphasized over the past
few months the complexities of its relations with
Beijing.

"Finally, in the face of the increasingly
interdependent and constraining development of
Washington-Beijing ties, Taiwan needs to ponder how
many bargaining chips it can still get hold of in
coping with Beijing's `offenses' and how much
`credibility' it still has to seek U.S. support."

KEEGAN