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night that incumbent Finance Minister Joseph Lyu had been replaced
by National Taiwan University professor Ho Chih-chin; the predicted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