MEDIA REACTION: TAIWAN'S POLITICS

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000243 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: TAIWAN'S POLITICS Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused their coverage January 31 on the debt-ridden Rebar Asia Pacific Group, on the year-end legislators' election and the 2008 presidential elections, and on the launch of "Windows Vista," Microsoft's latest operating system. In terms of editorials and commentaries, an editorial in the pro-independence "Liberty Times," Taiwan's largest-circulation daily, discussed the island's bid to join the United Nations under the name of Taiwan. The article said the goal to push for Taiwan's UN bid is not to seek to build Taiwan into an independent country but to transform it into a normal country. An editorial in the pro-unification "United Daily News," on the other hand, discussed President Chen Shui-bian's recent remarks on the sixtieth anniversary of the February 28 Incident and on Taiwan's new constitution. The article said Chen and his party have already picked the themes for this year's political agenda, which will be manipulated to help the DPP win the presidential elections in 2008. End summary. A) "To Push for the Campaign of 'Taiwan's UN Bid'" The pro-independence "Liberty Times" [circulation: 550,000] editorialized (1/31): "... Some people believe that the island's bid to join the United Nations under the name of Taiwan is a move to provoke the People's Republic of China. In reality, however, to join the UN under the name of the Republic of China is a seriously provocative move for the PRC, because it would mean the island is vying with China for UN membership. It would violate the one China principle on which the PRC firmly insists even if Taiwan seeks to join the UN as a general member under the name of Republic of China. In any case, the door of the UN will never be open to Taiwan if it insists on using the name Republic of China. ... "... A nativist regime has been built [in Taiwan], with the end of the Chiang Ching-kuo regime, the holding of popular votes for Taiwan's presidents, and the transfer of political power. This process of democratic reform indicated that the Taiwan people have used their will to build the island into an independent sovereign state... It is a great pity that, for internal and external reasons, Taiwan is not a normal country yet, even though it is already an independent, sovereign nation. Over recent years, knowledgeable people have been striving for campaigns such as rectifying Taiwan's name, writing a new constitution, and Taiwan's bidding on [a seat in the]UN. Their goal was not to build Taiwan into an independent country, as others claimed, but to transform the island into a normal country. ..." B) "Chen Shui-bian's Bogus Propositions: February 28 Incident and Campaign for [Taiwan's] New Constitution" The pro-unification "United Daily News" [circulation: 400,000] editorialized (1/31): "It seems that Chen Shui-bian and the DPP have already picked the themes for this year's political agenda: one is to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the February 28 Incident, and the other is to promote the campaign for [Taiwan's] new constitution. These two themes will intertwine and echo each other all the way to the presidential elections slated for March 2008. ... The DPP's wishful thinking was that manipulating such a 'leitmotif' full of clashes, chaos, hatred and painful remembrance will be able to cover up, twist and marginalize other issues [that are of direct interest to the Taiwan people]. Thus, even though the new constitution may remain unfinished and people may continue to mourn the February 28 Incident, the DPP may have secured a victory for the 2008 presidential elections amid conflict and painful remembrance. "The political signal Chen and the DPP have received and interpreted from the Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral elections at the end of last year was not that they need to reform and pursue clean government but that they can lean toward and embrace the deep-Green stalwarts and manipulate campaigning schemes without hesitation. To commemorate the February 28 Incident and to push for a new constitution are exactly moves to return to the deep Green area; one can hardly sense an ambiance of a 'middle-of-the-road' line. ..." YOUNG