DIRECTOR'S INTRODUCTORY CALL ON TAIWAN FOREIGN

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 TAIPEI 000943

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NOFORN
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/20/2031
TAGS: PREL PGOV TW
SUBJECT: DIRECTOR'S INTRODUCTORY CALL ON TAIWAN FOREIGN
MINISTER JAMES HUANG, MARCH 20, 2006


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Classified By: AIT Director Stephen M. Young. Reason(s):
1.4 (B/D)


1. (C) Summary. AIT Director Stephen Young used his
introductory meeting with Foreign Minister James Huang on
March 20 to preview some of the issues he intended to raise
in greater detail in his meeting with President Chen
Shui-bian the following day. The Director stressed that he
looked forward to working with Huang and with President Chen
to build a relationship built on open communication and
mutual trust. He emphasized the importance that President
Bush places on Taiwan,s continued adherence to President
Chen,s &Four No,s8 commitment. He noted that Washington
has made clear to Beijing U.S. concern over the PRC military
buildup, but Taiwan should not claim the PRC,s moves justify
Taiwan making changes to the status quo. Finally, the
Director stressed the importance of Taiwan avoiding any
actions which could make it an issue in the run-up to PRC
President Hu,s visit to Washington. FM Huang responded that
he shares the same objectives and emphasized that every time
he has been asked about Taiwan changing any one of its "Four
No,s" commitments )- whether on the name of the country or
the use of a referendum to move toward independence -- he has
publicly insisted that Taiwan has no such intent. The two
agreed that Taiwan and the U.S. should engage in a dialogue
over how Taiwan can best use its experience of
democratization to strengthen its international situation.
End Summary.


2. (C) Director Young made his first call in Taipei on
Foreign Minister James Huang (Chih-fang) on March 20. The
meeting, originally scheduled for 35 minutes, lasted over an
hour. Huang was accompanied by MOFA North American Affairs
Director-General Leo Lee (Cheng-ren). In a pre-meeting open
session, a gaggle of some thirty print and broadcast
reporters tossed out a staccato of questions on the
challenges facing the Director in Taipei, particularly the
National Unification Council (NUC) and National Unification
Guidelines (NUG). The Director responded that the NUC issue
"is in abeyance" and his top priority now is to exchange
views with the Foreign Minister, the President, and other
Taiwan leaders in order to focus on the way forward and
improving cooperation.

Communication, First and Foremost
--------------


3. (C) The Director expressed appreciation for the extremely
hard work of FM Huang and Acting Director Keegan in dealing
with the NUC/NUG issue, emphasized that he hopes the two
sides can move past the NUC/NUG, and asked Huang for his
assessment of where the two sides are now. Huang responded
by handing the Director a piece of paper bearing a
sixteen-character exhortation: "Closely communicate, reduce
misunderstanding, strengthen mutual trust, create a
Taiwan-U.S. win-win situation." In response to earlier
mention of TECRO Washington Representative David Lee, the
Director commented that Lee has had a difficult time in
Washington in recent weeks and that he had undoubtedly
conveyed some hard messages from Washington to Taipei.
Perhaps some in Taipei believed Lee had fabricated some of
these messages, the Director noted, but "I assure you he did
not."


4. (C) The Director welcomed Huang's aphorism, stressing
that mutual trust is the most important requirement between
Taiwan and the U.S. He noted, however, that he had been
struck while in Washington the past few months by the
declined reservoir of good will there for Taiwan compared
with 2001, when he departed Taipei as AIT Deputy Director.
While there are a number of reasons for this, the Director
explained, including post-9/11 developments and increasingly
sophisticated PRC diplomacy, Taiwan's actions have played a
part and Taiwan needs to do a better job of communicating
with the U.S. and avoiding surprises. Huang responded that
Taiwan "takes relations with the U.S. very seriously" and
insisted that President Chen is aware of the problem and is
working to strengthen bilateral relations. The Director

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responded that he got to know the President quite well during
his last tenure at AIT, considered him a friend, and looked
forward to meeting the President the following day.


5. (C) While some in Taipei might get frustrated with U.S.
requirements, the Director told Huang, they should understand
that the U.S. is also continually urging Beijing to deal with
the elected authorities in Taipei, warning that if this does
not happen cross-Strait tensions will inevitably increase.
Huang responded that Taipei very much appreciates what the
U.S. has done. Pointing to his own intense discussions with
Acting Director Keegan over the past few weeks on NUC/NUG,
Huang said this showed that Taiwan and the U.S. can work
closely together to resolve, even if "not perfectly," an
issue between them in order to prevent the PRC from driving a
wedge between the two sides.

Please Don't Make Waves
--------------


6. (C) The Director told Huang that the U.S. hopes the
Taiwan situation will remain quiet, particularly through the
Hu Jintao visit to Washington in late April. Secretary Rice
and Deputy Secretary Zoellick, he explained, are working to
draw China into a more cooperative international behavior,
which will also benefit cross-Strait stability and Taiwan
security. Huang responded that Taiwan fully understood the
sensitivities of the next few weeks and wanted to assure the
U.S. that Taipei "will do its best to assure calm and quiet"
during this period. Taiwan, he continued, appreciates U.S.
efforts to encourage the PRC to become a responsible
stakeholder in the international community.

Defense Procurement
--------------


7. (C) The U.S. also hopes, the Director continued, that
Taiwan will be more active in its own defense. He explained
that this would be a major theme in his meetings with members
of the Chen administration, the Legislative Yuan (LY),the
military, and the Taiwan public. Adequate defense is not
about particular weapons systems or making money, the
Director stressed, but rather about dealing with the
potential threat for cross-Strait conflict. Noting the
anti-military procurement slogans at the opposition People
First Party (PFP) rally the preceding day, March 19, Huang
told the Director that he hoped Taiwan's opposition parties
will recognize the importance of military procurement
because, unfortunately, the military procurement issue had
been turned into a domestic political struggle.

Maintaining the "Four No's"
--------------


8. (C) The Director told FM Huang that the U.S. still
expects Taiwan to clarify that the NUC/NUG continue to exist.
Beyond that, he said, the U.S. attaches great importance to
President Chen's "Four No's" and expects him to honor this
commitment. While the U.S. understands Taiwan's concern over
growing PRC military capacity, the Director explained, noting
that the U.S. has strongly and vocally opposed PRC military
buildup, nevertheless the U.S. does not view this growing
capacity as meaning that the PRC "intends to use" military
force against Taiwan and, thus, that Taiwan is free to alter
its commitments to the United States. Insisting that Taipei
understands the U.S. view on the "Four No's," Huang told the
Director that "I assure you we will honor the "Four No's"
commitment." That assurance, he argued, was the main point
of President Chen's February 27 statement. "When I testified
in the LY last week," Huang continued, "I said that we are
committed to maintaining the status quo." When legislators
directly ask him whether the "Four No's" are essential to the
status quo, Huang said, he responds "yes." When they
privately ask him if cessation of the "Four No's" would break
the status quo, Huang said, he always responds "of course."
The problem, Huang explained, is that many legislators in the
LY do not understand the difference between capacity and
intent.

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More Creative Foreign Policy
--------------


9. (S/NOFORN) Pointing to Huang's aphorism on "creating a
win-win situation," the Director told Huang that, as an old
friend of Taiwan, he wants to advance the win-win approach to
serve U.S. and Taiwan interests. For example, he said, the
U.S. would like to work with Taiwan on export control and
technology transfer, particularly involving Iran and North
Korea. Huang responded that Taiwan is committed to doing all
it can to cooperate with Washington on these issues and hopes
the U.S. will help Taiwan on issues in certain areas of
Africa, Latin AMERICA (especially Panama, Nicaragua, and
Haiti),and Iran, the last regarding opening a Taiwan
representative office in Tehran.


10. (C) The Director urged that Taiwan should do more to
promote its democratic values and tell Taiwan's story to
countries that can use Taiwan as a model for democratization
and development. This could be an important component of a
long-term strategy to enhance Taiwan's position in the world,
he explained, a strategy that will get further if not tied to
formal diplomatic relations. Taiwan is one of the most
vibrant democracies in the world and an economic success
story, and it has much to offer the world. While diplomatic
partners are important, the Director argued, formal relations
have not been part of Taiwan's ties with some of its most
important partners, including South Korea, South Africa,
Japan and the U.S. Huang replied that he is thinking along
the same lines. If Taiwan focuses only on countries with
which it has diplomatic relations, he acknowledged, this will
put Taiwan in a difficult situation. However, if Taiwan
focuses on comprehensive relations with other nations, it can
establish diplomatic strategic partnerships, provide Taiwan
democratic experience to other countries, and gain access to
energy sources for Taiwan. Huang told the Director that in
June he plans to announce a program to develop comprehensive
cooperative partnerships in the global village.


11. (C) When the Foreign Minister and the Director walked
out of the meeting room, the phalanx of reporters was waiting
with cameras and microphones trained on the two men. "Did
you get a commitment that NUC and NUG still exist," shouted
several. The Director and FM Huang responded that the
meeting had focused on the way forward and future cooperation
between Taiwan and the U.S.

YOUNG