MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-TAIWAN RELATIONS, U.S.-JAPAN SECURITY

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001034

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD - LLOYD NEIGHBORS
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-TAIWAN RELATIONS, U.S.-JAPAN SECURITY
PACT



1. Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused news
coverage May 8 on a DPP press conference Monday, in which all the
party's presidential contenders vowed to support former Premier
Frank Hsieh as the party's presidential candidate for the 2008
presidential election. The pro-status quo "China Times" carried an
exclusive news story on page eleven with the headline "Lee Jye
Speaks out against the United States' Opposition to [Taiwan's
Development of] Offensive Missiles."


2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, an op-ed in the
mass-circulation "Apple Daily" discussed the U.S.' Taiwan policy and
said "even though the United States extended a goodwill gesture
toward China over the Taiwan issue, it does not mean that for
Washington, Taiwan's strategic importance is reduced." An editorial
in the limited-circulation, conservative, pro-unification,
English-language "China Post" commented on the U.S.-Japan security
pact and said the two countries "are growing reluctant to be drawn
into a conflict with China over Taiwan's push for statehood." End
summary.


3. U.S.-Taiwan Relations

"Small Changes in the United States' Taiwan Policy, but General
Direction Remains Unchanged"

Nan Hua University's Department of International Studies Director
Emerson Chang opined in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily"
[circulation: 520,000] (5/5):

"Is there any change in the United States' policy toward Taiwan?
The three big actions recently taken by the State Department for
three consecutive days starting May 1 have drawn people's attention:
First, the 2005 statement regarding 'encouraging that all
cross-Strait related issues be resolved peacefully via dialogue' was
scrapped from the joint declaration following the U.S.-Japan
Security Consultative Committee meeting in 2007. Second, Deputy
Secretary of State John Negroponte, when testifying before the House

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Foreign Affairs Committee, said without following his prepared
speech text that '[some] political actors in Taiwan try in some way
to change the status quo by name change, calling for referendums or
changing the constitution.' Third, AIT Taipei Director Stephen
Young pointed out in his press conference that 'the United States
does not support Taiwan's development of long-range offensive
missiles.' Regarding the aforementioned developments, political and
academic circles in Beijing believe that they were results of
improved Beijing-Washington relations and Beijing-Tokyo ties. But
this writer sees it exactly the opposite way and believes they were
the result of increasing tension in China-U.S. relations. ...

"Both Washington and Beijing are NOW trapped in a security impasse,
and the evidence included: for the sake of the war on terrorism,
the United States has extended its power into West and Central Asia
via the war in Afghanistan. China, citing the war on terrorism as
its justification, also established the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization and invited Russia and some Central Asian countries to
join the organization. Later on, the United States further used the
war on terrorism as an excuse to launch a war in Iraq, in an attempt
to gain control of the oil resources in the Mideast. China, on the
other hand, started a pearl chain strategy to ensure the safety of
oil transportation from the Indian Ocean to South China Sea. ...

"Second, a security impasse will deteriorate into a crisis and
further into a conflict. Washington believes that China's strategic
planning will put both sides in the face of a major crisis in the
future, particularly when it comes to cross-Strait issues. ...
Given the fact that the situation's development may some day lead
both sides to catastrophic destruction, the United States is
obviously unwilling to engage in a race with China over Taiwan, as
it does not concurQith U.S. interests. Washington therefore sought
to cool the situation and resolve China's hostility before the
latter starts deployment based on its anti-interference strategy.
The approach Washington adopted was to reduce the stimulus of the
Taiwan issue toward China, and that is why we saw the three big
actions being taken [by Washington]. Last, even though the United
States extended a goodwill gesture toward China over the Taiwan
issue, it does not mean that for Washington, Taiwan's strategic
importance is reduced. ..."


4. U.S.-Japan Security Pact

"US-Japan Pact Expanding"

The conservative, pro-unification, English-language "China Post"
[circulation: 30,000] editorialized (5/8):

"Japan is ready to become a 'normal country' by amending its antiwar
constitution with the approval of the U.S., the original writer of
that charter. Meanwhile, concerns regarding Taiwan, always a factor
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in U.S.-Japan security planning, were dropped for the first time in
their talks last week in Washington. It's not as if the two allies
no longer care about Taiwan's security, but they are growing
reluctant to be drawn into a conflict with China over Taiwan's push
for statehood. ... "

YOUNG