MEDIA REACTION: CROSS-STRAIT RELATIONS, U.S.-TAIWAN

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 003602 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD - DAVID FIRESTEIN DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: CROSS-STRAIT RELATIONS, U.S.-TAIWAN RELATIONS, U.S. ARMS PROCUREMENTS ¶1. Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused coverage October 20 on the year-end Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral races; and on National Taiwan University Hospital's decision Thursday to turn down a request from President Chen Shui-bian's son-in-law to resume his duties as a physician on the grounds that he has "seriously violated medical ethics." Both the pro-status quo "China Times" and the pro-unification "United Daily News" front-paged the breakdown in negotiations between KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou and People First Party James Soong over the Blue camp's candidate for the Taipei mayoral election in December. The "United Daily News," in addition, devoted half of its page seven to an exclusive interview with senior Bush administration officials and an analysis of Washington's relations with the Chen Shui-bian administration. The interview was run with a banner headline that said "Senior U.S. Official: Bian Should Not Use Ad Hoc Referendum out of the Blue to Interfere with Constitutional Reforms." With regard to U.S.-Taiwan arms sales, the pro-independence "Liberty Times," Taiwan's largest-circulation daily, ran a banner headline on page two that read "Ruling and Opposition Parties Agree That Arms Procurement Bill Will Be Reviewed by Procedural Committee Next Week." ¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, a "Liberty Times" editorial discussed China's ambitious attempts to contain and isolate Taiwan diplomatically in the international community. A "United Daily News" analysis discussed Washington's communication and relations with the Chen administration, saying that the United States only hopes that President Chen will not cause any trouble during the remainder of his term of office. An editorial in the limited-circulation, pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" discussed U.S. arms procurement and criticized the Blue camp for blocking the arms procurement bill, undermining Taiwan's security, and damaging Taiwan's relations with the United States. End summary. ¶3. Cross-Strait Relations "Can [We] Continue to Turn a Blind Eye to China's Containment of Taiwan's Foreign Relations?" The pro-independence "Liberty Times" [circulation: 600,000] editorialized (10/20): "... Western countries have always expected that China, which rose peacefully, as it claimed, can play the role of a responsible large country to foster peace and stability in the international community. But judging from the examples of Iran, North Korea, and Sudan, China is nothing but a troublemaker. In order to confront the United States, China has been supporting certain rogue states, both implicitly and explicitly, providing them with economic, food, and energy aid as well as weapons, thus giving western countries headed by the United States a hard time. Of course, Taiwan remains the first to bear the brunt of China's diplomatic attacks. Both the ruling and opposition parties in Taiwan must stop their endless in-fighting and join hands to deal with China's diplomatic containment, or our nation will be stretched too thin on the diplomatic front, while severe in-fighting continues on the island. China will easily lure away all our allies, and should it really happen, it will be more difficult for an internationally-isolated Taiwan to defend itself against China's ambitions of invading and annexing the island. ..." ¶4. U.S.-Taiwan Relations "Bian Is Flip-flopping; United States Only Hopes He Will Not Cause Any Trouble Again" Journalists Sun Yang-ming and Vincent Chang noted in an analysis in the pro-unification "United Daily News" [circulation: 400,000] (10/20): "During an exclusive interview with this newspaper, senior officials of the Bush administration implicitly asked the journalists to judge whether or not Washington still has faith in President Chen Shui-bian. This move actually reflected the experience the Bush administration has gained from its dealing with Chen over the past few years. Chen has been flip-flopping in his words and deeds, and many officials, during exclusive interviews with this paper, have used sentences like 'friends don't cause surprises' and 'friends must be trustworthy' tactfully to spell out the United States' ardent 'expectations' for Chen. But still, Chen remains unchanged, forcing Washington to [talk to him] in plain language; words such as 'seriously concerned,' 'take very seriously,' and 'keep one's word' have long become the official platitudes used by Washington to respond to Chen. ... "During this interview, it is obvious that the United States' policy RELATIONS, U.S. ARMS PROCUREMENTS toward Taiwan at the current stage is to hope the Chen administration will not make any more mistakes. It will be auspicious for the Chen administration smoothly to finish the last two years of Chen's term. What is more interesting with regard to one senior [U.S.] official's remarks was that Chen, because of the high threshold for amending the Constitution, will likely bypass the Legislative Yuan and take advantage of a referendum to work out a constitution that he personally desires. ... "Without a doubt, Washington's request for Taiwan is that everything should be done according to democratic procedures and law, but [it] must not touch on the red line. In other words, the United States has made things very clear with regard to the bottom line of Chen's constitutional reforms, and even the possible ways he might adopt for constitutional reforms. Washington will not tolerate it should Chen deliberately touch on the 'red line,' no matter whether it is part of the democratic process or not. ..." ¶5. U.S. Arms Procurements "Enough Games: Approve the Budget" The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation: 20,000] editorialized (10/20): "So the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus has said it is finally prepared to allow the contentious arms procurement package to move forward. We've heard all this before. ... Despite KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's promises, when he said in August that he backed the effort to procure several major weapons systems from the US, the KMT caucus still voted to keep the budget off the legislative agenda on Tuesday. ... "The simple truth is that no one in the KMT is willing to stand up and defend his or her party's record on this issue, because it is indefensible. The KMT has undermined the nation's security, damaged Taiwan's relations with the US and turned the deliberative processes of the legislature into a charade. Since 2003, rumors have been flying around daily about imminent deals being reached over the defense budget. None have turned out to be true. ... So, enough excuses from the KMT. Pass the budget." YOUNG