MEDIA REACTION: U.S. ARMS SALES TO TAIWAN

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 003739

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 November
2continued to put their focus on the prosecutors' decision Wednesday
to detain a Financial Supervisory Commission member on the charge of
violating the Securities Transaction Law. News coverage also
focused on the Legislative Yuan's review of the annual national
defense budget Wednesday, part of which passed the National Defense
Committee with only minor revisions; and on the investigation of the
Presidential allowance for state affairs case. Several papers also
carried on inside pages a U.S. State Department statement of Tuesday
denying that Washington has suspended military exchange programs
with Taiwan as a retaliatory move against the Taiwan legislature's
failure to pass the arms procurement bill.


2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, an editorial in the
pro-independence "Liberty Times," Taiwan's largest-circulation
daily, said the controversial arms procurement bill has gradually
turned into a surrogate battle between unification and independence
in Taiwan. An opinion piece in the limited-circulation,
pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" lashed out at the
pan-Blue camp for deliberately blocking the arms procurement bill
and trying to sell out Taiwan. End summary.

A) "Ulterior Reasons Behind the Opposition to [U.S.] Arms
Procurement Are Exposed"

The pro-independence "Liberty Times" [circulation: 600,000]
editorialized (11/2):

"The arms procurement bill, which has been repeatedly blocked by the
pan-Blue camp over the past few years, has in reality transformed
gradually from [a matter of] partisan struggles and arguments over
budget into a bellwether of the confrontation between unification
and independence. The latest edition of the U.S. "Defense News"
quoted quite a few U.S. and Taiwan observers as saying that the
controversy over U.S. arms procurements in the Legislative Yuan is
linked to the battle between unification and independence in Taiwan.
The weekly even directly pointed out that the wrestling between
pro-China and pro-independence lawmakers is eroding Washington's
ties with Taiwan. ...

"In fact, just because the reasons offered by the pan-Blue camp for
its opposition to the arms procurement bill failed to hold water,
the Taiwan public began to suspect that some inside stories
reflecting ulterior motives were possibly behind the apparent
boycotts [of the arms procurements]. The most worrisome among these
inside stories is that perhaps the arms procurement bill is a
surrogate battle between unification and independence. In other
words, the reason why the pan-Blue camp opposes the arms procurement
bill is by no means based on its concern for whether or not the
budget earmarked for the arms procurements is reasonable; instead,
it is because the Blue legislators are opposed to Taiwan's
possession of adequate national defense capability. If [the
pan-Blue camp] opposes extravagant arms procurements and truly
believes that the budget has not been reasonably allocated, to avoid
drawbacks it can have the Procedural Committee discuss the arms
procurement budget and delete the parts that are not carefully
allocated. But on the contrary, the pan-Blue camp kept on
deliberately making things difficult ... and evidently, its
opposition to extravagant arms procurement is nothing but an excuse,
while its true intention is to try every means it can to prevent the
arms procurement bill from being passed. The real reason behind the
Blue camp's opposition to the arms procurements is evidently because
of their pro-unification thinking. ..."

B) "Pan-Blue Camp Is Selling out the Nation"

Cao Changqing, a China-born freelance journalist based in the United
States, opined in the pro-independence, English-language "Taipei
Times" [circulation: 30,000] (11/2):

"... In the face of this nearby enemy, Taiwan should naturally
strengthen its national defense by passing the arms budget. It
should also call a spade a spade and view China as an enemy, as well
as strengthen cooperation with the US military. This is especially
true because, as China's economy takes off, many countries are
scared to offend Beijing because of their business interests. In a
situation where only the US dares to sell Taipei weapons, the ruling
and opposition parties ought to focus on bilateral military
relations with Washington. ...

"Seeing the pan-Blue's unconcealed display of anti-US and pro-China
sentiment leaves the onlooker baffled. ... Is it not the KMT and
PFP who, unhappy that Taiwanese people are in power, have
unhesitatingly embraced the CCP, gambled with the ROC's security,
turned their backs on the anti-communism of the two Chiangs and
forgotten their own roots?"

WANG