MEDIA REACTION: U.S. ON CROSS-STRAIT TRADE RELATIONS

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001175 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. ON CROSS-STRAIT TRADE RELATIONS Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused news coverage May 25 on the year-end legislative elections, on an alleged corruption scandal involving the renovation of the National Palace Museum, and on other local issues. The centrist, KMT-leaning "China Times" front-paged an exclusive banner headline that read "Revamping the Party Charter and Moving toward Nativism; KMT Removes Unification and Adds Taiwan [to Its Party Charter]." In terms of editorials and commentaries, an op-ed piece in the pro-unification "United Daily News" commented on AIT Director Stephen Young's remarks on cross-Strait trade relations in a speech to Taiwan's Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce Monday. The article said that Taiwan needs to pay attention to Young's call for further opening of cross-Strait trade relations because, as an onlooker who sees most of the game, Young is more objective in pointing a way for Taiwan to get out of its current predicament. End summary. "Stephen Young Knows about the Predicament of a Frog Being Cooked in Lukewarm Water" Associate Professor Pang Chien-kuo of Chinese Culture University's Sun Yat-sen Graduate Institute opined in the pro-unification "United Daily News" [circulation: 400,000] (5/25): "AIT Director Stephen Young has again emphasized before President Chen Shui-bian recently that a critical way to improve the U.S.-Taiwan trade partnership is for Taiwan to further open its economic relationship with China. The question is: the speaker was talking with great earnestness, but what about the listener? ... If [Taiwan] does not want to become a frog cooked in lukewarm water, it has to pay attention to Young's remarks. Why does Young, who is generally believed to be very friendly with President Chen, have to speak [such remarks] out loud repeatedly? What Young has been pleading for are of course the interests of U.S. businesses. But it is exactly because Young is an onlooker who can see clearly most of the game, he is more objective in pointing out to Chen how Taiwan can get out of its [current] predicament. "It is already common sense [for people] that Taiwan's stalling in opening [cross-Strait] direct transportation, which has hindered the free flow of people, goods, and capital across the Taiwan Strait, has done serious damage to Taiwan's competitiveness. The general public may not understand the basic truth about globalization, but they are aware that, if there is no breakthrough in the cross-Strait relations, the only way for them to make more money will be to withdraw money from the banks and the stock market and use it to buy all kinds of mutual funds that invest in Chinese or foreign enterprises or stock markets. As a result, Taiwan's economy will continue to linger in the doldrums, rendering the island more and more like the frog caught in lukewarm water. "Will there be risks if [Taiwan] loosens its policies on cross-Strait [trade relations]? Of course. But as in the case of confronting the competition created by globalization, risks and opportunities always co-exist. To be a winner, one must be able to control risks and seize opportunities. Taiwan has already missed the optimal timing, and if it continues procrastinating, it will only be pushed to the edge of the big platform of globalization and regional integration. Let us wait and see if Chang Chun-hsiung's Cabinet is able to break through the impasse across the Taiwan Strait, control the risks and seize the opportunities." YOUNG