MEDIA REACTION: U.S. ARMS SALES TO TAIWAN

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 003726 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: U.S. ARMS SALES TO TAIWAN ¶1. Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies continued to focus November 1 on the prosecutors' request Tuesday to detain a Financial Supervisory Commission member for his alleged involvement in corruption. News coverage also focused on the arms procurement bill, which was again blocked by pan-Blue legislators Tuesday; and on a "Defense News" article on the U.S. arms procurements. The pro-independence "Liberty Times," Taiwan's largest-circulation daily, front-paged the "Defense News" article and ran a banner headline on page two that read "Arms Procurement Bill Blocked Again; Top Authorities: Situation Is Alarming." ¶2. In terms of editorials and commentary, an opinion piece in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily" defended AIT Taipei Director Stephen Young's remarks on Taiwan's arms procurements last Thursday. The article said Young's press conference was in reality a move to stop the deep-rooted evils of Taiwan's politicians who tend to monopolize the channels of U.S. information. A separate "Apple Daily" opinion piece also urged Taiwan's political parties who intend to take power to consider Taiwan's national defense and security and reasonably discuss the arms procurement bill. An editorial in the limited-circulation, pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" lashed out at the pan-Blue camp for its repeatedly attempts to block the arms procurement bill in the Legislative Yuan. End summary. A) "Rusty Island Chain and Stephen Young's Remarks" Chang Tzu-yang, the dean of Nanhua University's Department of International Studies, commented in an op-ed piece in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily" [circulation: 500,000] (11/1): "The press conference hosted by AIT Taipei Director Stephen Young on October 26 triggered quite a big stir in Taiwan's political circle, with criticism that he was forcefully promoting arms sales and interfering in [Taiwan's] domestic politics. But perhaps this kind of comment will neither be able to safeguard national dignity nor foster national interests. The analysis is as follows. First, the comment regarding [Young] intervening in domestic politics was somewhat far-fetched. Young was in reality stepping in to stop the deep-rooted evils of Taiwan politicians who tend to monopolize the channel of U.S. information. "Young is clearly aware of Taiwan's political situation, and he knows that Taiwan's political figures, following closed-door meetings with him, may likely twist his original intention, so he said in the very beginning of his press conference that he wanted to convey the United States' true message to the Taiwan people via the media. This move was to show respect to the Taiwan people. In addition, Young chose to hold his press conference at the American Cultural Center (ACC),which is U.S. property. His discussion of Taiwan's interests, security and their connection with the United States at the ACC resembled the U.S. State Department spokesmen who discussed the Taiwan issue in a regular State Department press briefing. The nature [of the press conference] was to confine the discussion to the matter at issue, which should not be regarded as interference. Young's intention was for Taiwan's interests; even though U.S. interests were also involved, his move at least met the diplomatic principle of equality and reciprocity. "Second, there are various interpretations for Young's motives, but I believe Young's sense of urgency came mainly from the fact that the Bush administration has reset the tune for its China policy. It is already determined that the United States wants to contain China strategically, and Washington has already started its action. This is something Young could not say out loud, as he did not want to provoke China and encourage Taiwan independence. ... "In the face of the several-months-long chaos and ceasing of function in Taiwan's politics, plus Pyongyang's nuclear test to make the situation worse, the United States, which is eager to mend the island chains in the West Pacific, can only ask Young to make a big move by appealing to public opinion to push Taiwan's ruling and opposition parties to work together on arms procurements. But Taiwan seems to have become a rusty link in the island chain, and perhaps the United States will have to work harder to polish it." B) "Big Parties Must Behave Like Grown-ups" Senior political commentator Sun Ching-yu noted in an opinion piece in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily" [circulation: 500,000] (11/1): "... As a representative posted in one of the two sides that make business deals, and as one of the two parties which are involved in joint military defense, Stephen Young was fully entitled to remind Taiwan. But the same bunch of people who blocked the arms procurements even dared to loudly criticize Young for 'making remarks out of his capacity [as a diplomat],' for 'diplomatic intimidation,' and for 'not respecting the dignity of a sovereign country.' "Can the leaders of major parties in a sovereign country break their promise without any reason after having assured the United States that the arms procurement bill would be passed this fall? Can the legislative caucuses of a sovereign country oppose 'extravagant arms procurements' and uphold a 'reasonable arms deal' while repeatedly blocking the arms procurement bill and leaving no room for the 'reasonable arms procurements' to be discussed? In addition, 'a country will not be insulted by others unless it insults itself first.' Can a country which fails to respect its conventions win other people's respect? Is it a dignified move to postpone and act unreasonably on one's promise? ..." C) "National Defense Starts at Home" The pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" [circulation: 30,000] editorialized (11/1): "... There are those in the US who believe in Taiwan and believe in its freedom, and these people work hard to convince the military, the executive and Congress that Taiwan is worth supporting and, if necessary, fighting for. Then there are those who think that Taiwan is expendable. They think Taiwanese are a jumped-up bunch of Chinese who cannot be trusted to run a democracy, let alone to defend themselves from the Chinese juggernaut. To them, Taiwan endangers good relations with China and industry and is simply not worth the trouble - despite the fact that Taiwan's democracy grew under US protection. There is a strong case to be made, therefore, that Young was ordered by his superiors to ignite the pan-blue camp's deep anti-Americanism so that the procurement bill would be scuttled - providing ammunition to pro-China forces in the US of the 'unwillingness' of Taiwan to defend itself. "Whatever the truth of the matter, a clash between pro-Taiwan interests in the US and the pan-blue camp was inevitable because pan-blue contempt toward the US has always nestled very close to the surface. Never mind that the pan-blue elite are US-educated; the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has a long and inglorious history of relying on US funding, education, technical know-how and military support, then denying its own incompetence and its debt to the American people and labeling the US 'colonialist' for presuming to defend Taiwan against Chinese dictatorship. What Washington has to understand is that KMT hypocrisy and carpetbagging do not represent the sentiments of the average Taiwanese, nor even the sentiments of the average KMT supporter. Taiwanese politics is polarized, but Taiwanese themselves maintain a civilized polity that is worth standing up for. The other option is to condemn Taiwan to the care of a regime that a draft US-China Economic and Security Review Commission report has described as a country unlikely to be willing to act as a responsible world power. ..." YOUNG