MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-TAIWAN RELATIONS, AFTERMATH OF THE

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 002264 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD - ERIC BARBORIAK DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-TAIWAN RELATIONS, AFTERMATH OF THE PRESIDENTIAL RECALL ATTEMPT ¶1. Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused their coverage June 30 on the Cabinet's unexpected announcement Thursday night that incumbent Finance Minister Joseph Lyu had been replaced by National Taiwan University professor Ho Chih-chin; the predicted indictment of President Chen Shui-bian's son-in-law; the investigation into the alleged role of the First Family's personal physician in First Lady Wu Shu-chen's involvement in the Sogo Department Store gift certificates scandal; and the rumored discord between President Chen and former President Lee Teng-hui. Most papers also reported on inside pages legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives which would lift restrictions limiting contacts between American and Taiwan government officials. The pro-unification "United Daily News" ran a news story on page four with the headline "Bian Talks about Future Directions, Emphasizing Constitutional Reform." ¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, an opinion piece in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily" urged Taiwan to communicate with the United States over its plan to develop offensive weapons. Also, in the wake of the failed presidential recall attempt, an editorial in the pro-independence "Liberty Times," Taiwan's biggest daily, pointed out two major directions for Taiwan in which to pursue incorruptibility - namely, to legislate a sunshine bill and to dun the KMT for its ill-gotten party assets. An editorial in the limited-circulation, conservative, pro-unification, English-language "China Post" said President Chen and the DPP will face greater challenges even though the presidential recall motion failed to pass in the Legislative Yuan. End summary. ¶3. U.S.-Taiwan Relations A) "Need to Communicate with U.S. over Development of Offensive Weapons" Mei Fu-hsing, director and editor-in-chief of the "Taiwan Defense Review," opined in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily" [circulation: 500,000] (6/30): "... Over the past few years, Taiwan's leadership has more than once talked in public about its development of offensive weapons; some politicians even threatened to aim missiles at Shanghai or the Three Gorges Dam. These moves added up to erode the island's mutual trust with the United States. Also, the political upheavals in Taiwan gave Washington no alternative but to doubt whether Taiwan, in the face of the outbreak of a crisis, is able to seriously and responsibly control the risks of possible escalating conflicts. To put it bluntly, the major problem [between the U.S. and Taiwan] lies in transparency. The U.S. has merely a limited understanding of Taiwan's planning and development of its offensive combat preparedness in six areas (fighter air attacks, missile ground attacks, submarines, special forces troops, information warfare, etc). It is naturally essential for Taiwan to keep some 'treasured' secret bargaining chips so that it can increase Beijing's SIPDIS uncertainties about using force against Taiwan, and also ensure that the United States will not sacrifice Taiwan altogether in order to handle a cross-StraQ crisis. ... "Taiwan should seize the opportunity of the annual Taiwan-U.S. strategic dialogue to explain to the U.S., in particular, the political objectives, and combat plans of its offensive combat preparedness. ... Such a move will help remove Washington's doubts, reduce unnecessary barriers to the island's independent development of offensive capabilities, and mend the overall mutual trust between the two sides." ¶4. Aftermath of the Presidential Recall Attempt A) "Pass Sunshine Bill As Early As Possible to Dun [the KMT] for Ill-gotten Party Assets" The pro-independence "Liberty Times" [circulation: 600,000] editorialized (6/30): "... It is progress that incorruptibility has become a common catch-word between the Blue and Green camps. But incorruptibility is not an abstract moral appeal; ... instead, we need to construct a comprehensive set of laws and regulations, which will serve as a cornerstone to thoroughly carry out the pursuit of incorruptibility. We believe there are two major directions in which we should strive if we want to build a clean government in Taiwan: The first is to pass a comprehensive sunshine bill and to set up a task force to eliminate corruption, in an attempt to thoroughly prevent corrupt practices from the very beginning. ... Second, we need to dun the KMT for its ill-gotten party assets, in an attempt to eliminate the corrupt remnants passed down from the totalitarian age. ..." B) "Chen and DPP to Face Greater Challenges Ahead" The conservative, pro-unification, English-language "China Post" [circulation: 30,000] wrote in an editorial (6/30): "The recent attempt made by the 'pan-blue alliance' to remove President Chen Shui-bian through a referendum ended in failure because the proposal did not receive sufficient support in the Legislative Yuan. Even so, it wasn't really a failure for the opposition, and certainly not a victory for Chen and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). ... Now, even some DPP-affiliated officials feel Chen could be a liability in their future election or re-election campaigns. DPP politicians with this feeling are bound to grow in number in the future. If the party wants to regain the support it once enjoyed, it should stop trying to protect Chen." KEEGAN