MEDIA REACTION: CROSS-STRAIT RELATIONS

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000725

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: CROSS-STRAIT RELATIONS



1. Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies centered
their coverage March 8 on the government's investment in
Taiwan's high-speed rail project, the interpellation at the
Legislative Yuan, the 27th anniversary of the death of
Taiwan democracy pioneer Lei Chen, and other political
issues. The pro-unification "United Daily News" ran an
exclusive news story on its front page that quoted U.S.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner as
saying Taiwan's decision to cease the functioning of the
National Unification Council (NUC) was a mistake; he added
that he is not sure whether the United States will still
come to Taiwan's aid under these conditions. The newspaper
also carried a news story on its page four with the
headline: "The United States Is Still Waiting for Bian to
Clarify That `The NUC Still Exists.'" The sub-headline
added: "No Matter Whether the VOA Report Is Incorrect Or
Not, a Senior State Department Official [Said]: It Is of
Great Importance That There Should Be No Ambiguity [with
Regard to Chen's Public Announcement]." The pro-
independence "Liberty Times," Taiwan's biggest daily,
carried a similar news story on its page two with the
headline: "The United States Requests That Taiwan Clarify
Its Announcement on the Cessation of the NUC and NUG."


2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, the "Free Talk"
column in the "Liberty Times" criticized the pan-Blue camp
for being spineless for hurrying to recall President Chen
because of the cessation of NUC functioning while
overlooking China's attempt to annex Taiwan. An editorial
in the pro-independence "Taiwan Daily" hailed Chen's
decision about the NUC and refuted Beijing's claim that
"Taiwan is an indivisible sacred territory of China." A
commentary in the limited-circulation, conservative, pro-
unification, English-language "China Post" predicted that
Chen would take additional steps during his remaining time
in office to upset Washington and Beijing while claiming
that nothing has changed. End summary.

A) "Spineless Animal"

The "Free Talk" column in the pro-independence "Liberty
Times" [circulation: 600,000] noted (3/8):

". The `cessation of the National Unification Council (NUC)
and National Unification Guidelines (NUG)' is Taiwan's
domestic affair. [President Chen] gave the right of
democracy back to the Taiwan people by ceasing [the
functioning and application] of the dormant NUC and NUG, and
the move had nothing to do with changing [Taiwan's]
sovereignty, national title or national flag. But the pan-
Blue camp got desperate [by Chen's move]; it rushed to file
a motion to recall and impeach the president and also to
launch a big demonstration [to protest Chen's announcement].

"Taiwan is an independent sovereign state and its national
title now is the Republic of China (ROC). But the People's
Republic of China (PRC) unilaterally regards Taiwan as part
of its territory. It a plain fact that [the PRC wants to]
annex and invade [Taiwan] in an attempt to terminate and
destroy the ROC. The `cessation of the NUC and NUG' is a
small matter, while the [attempt to] `terminate' the ROC is
something humongous [that deserves to be treated seriously]!
The pan-Blue camp, which claimed repeatedly that it would
stand to safeguard the ROC, has now turned into a spineless
animal and servile sycophant to China when the PRC declared
that it wants to terminate the ROC! [We] must never put
Taiwan's future into the hands of this spineless political
animal, or it will surely bury the sovereignty and dignity
of the ROC and Taiwan's democracy and freedom!"

B) "Taiwan Is Our Land and by No Means an Indivisible Sacred
Territory of China!"

The pro-independence "Taiwan Daily" [circulation: 100,000]
editorialized (3/8):

". The `one China' concept has been popular from the
twentieth century to the twenty-first century, and the PRC
`firmly believes' that it possesses Taiwan's sovereignty.
The ROC, in the meantime, has even greater ambitions - it
included Taiwan, the PRC, and the Republic of Mongolia all
into its territory. This is an over-century-old joke, but
the less amusing part about it was that not only China
believes firmly in this . joke that deceives itself and
others, but the pan-Blue camp in Taiwan also sees it as a
banner [i.e. rallying point]. . President Chen's
announcement to `cease the NUC and NUG' was exactly aimed at
cutting off the paradoxical `one China' somniloquy,

correcting the distorted situation, making Taiwan's position
in line with the reality and relevant laws, and putting [the
right] to determine Taiwan's future back to the hands of its
residents by upholding the [principles of] democracy and
freedom. This is because Taiwan has always been the sacred
territory of the Taiwan people; it has never been an
indivisible sacred part of China!"

C) "When Is a Change not a Change?"

Frank Ching opined in the conservative, pro-unification,
English-language "China Post" [circulation: 30,000] (3/8):

". Why is Mr. Chen [Shui-bian] doing this when the council
[i.e. NUC] and guidelines [i.e. NUG] existed only paper
anyway, especially when doing so risked alienating his main
supporter, the United States? The answer seems to be that
the president, with two years of his term left, does not
want to be rendered irrelevant. His popularity had sunk in
December to a historical low of around 10%, and Mr. Chen, by
taking this action, is regaining the support of hard-core
pro-independence voters. .

"No doubt, in the next two years, Mr. Chen will take
additional steps that will make both his enemies in Beijing
and his supporters in Washington feel decidedly
uncomfortable. And he may well claim while doing so that
nothing had changed."

KEEGAN