Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07TAIPEI1284
2007-06-07 10:43:00
CONFIDENTIAL
American Institute Taiwan, Taipei
Cable title:  

PRO-GREEN SCHOLARS ON DPP INFIGHTING, FRANK HSIEH,

Tags:  PGOV PREL JA TW 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 001284 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL JA TW
SUBJECT: PRO-GREEN SCHOLARS ON DPP INFIGHTING, FRANK HSIEH,
AND MA YING-JEOU


Classified By: AIT Director Stephen M. Young,
Reasons: 1.4 (b/d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 001284

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL JA TW
SUBJECT: PRO-GREEN SCHOLARS ON DPP INFIGHTING, FRANK HSIEH,
AND MA YING-JEOU


Classified By: AIT Director Stephen M. Young,
Reasons: 1.4 (b/d)


1. (C) Summary: A group of pro-Green scholars told the
Director on May 30 that resentment within the DPP against
President Chen and the pro-Su Tseng-chang New Tide faction
was an important reason for the victory of former Premier
Frank Hsieh over Premier Su in the May 6 presidential
primary. They also said that Hsieh had been boosted by
legislators close to him, who had strongly counterattacked
the KMT and its Chairman Ma Ying-jeou last year during the
opposition's failed campaign to force President Chen to step
down over corruption issues. Hsieh's considerable political
skills allow him to appeal to both moderates and the Deep
Green, they noted. On the other hand, the scholars
criticized KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou for
failing to understand the feelings of the Taiwanese people,
citing his choice of a late Qing Mainlander governor for role
model as an example of his insensitivity. End Summary.

The DPP
--------------


2. (C) The Director hosted a lunch on May 30 to discuss
domestic politics with four pro-Green scholars: Hsu
Yung-ming, Wu Nai-teh, and Michael Hsiao, all from Academia
Sinica, and Tamkang University Professor Shih Cheng-feng.
The scholars observed that the May 6 DPP presidential primary
represented a loss for President Chen Shui-bian, who did
little to veil his support for then-Premier Su Tseng-chang.
It was also a defeat for the New Tide faction, which
supported Premier Su. A major factor in Su's defeat was
growing long-term resentment within the DPP against the
pro-Su New Tide faction, the scholars agreed.


3. (C) Michael Hsiao said he was not sorry to see the losses
of a number of New Tide "reformers" in the legislative
primaries though he was disappointed that New Tide-ally
Bikhim Hsiao had suffered defeat. Although New Tide members
portrayed themselves as "reformers," they chose to publish
their views in the pro-Blue rather than the pro-Green press,
an indication they were more serious about enhancing their
personal reputations than about reforming the party. Hsiao

argued that former New Tide legislators Lin Cho-shui and Lee
Wen-chung were especially hypocritical to run in this year's
Legislative Yuan (LY) primaries after having quit the LY just
last fall as a matter of "principle," following the
implication of President Chen in the corruption indictment
against his wife.


4. (C) The DPP candidates who support Frank Hsieh have
generally done well in the party's legislative primaries, the
academics noted. At the same time when New Tide members were
criticizing President Chen and the DPP last year, pro-Hsieh
legislators were taking the lead in defense of the party
against the "Red Shirt" "Depose President Chen" movement.
Rather than trying to defend President Chen himself, however,
their strategy was to counterattack strongly against the KMT,
especially KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou. Though standing on the
sidelines, Frank Hsieh was able to gain credit from the
forceful stance of his legislators.

Frank Hsieh
--------------


5. (C) In Shih Cheng-feng's view, Hsieh and Su are moderates
and "opportunists" rather than idealists or ideologues. Shih
also described Hsieh as "cunning." Michael Hsiao observed
how Frank Hsieh has a talent for using humor to deflect
awkward questions from the media. When asked about the
absence of the three defeated DPP presidential hopefuls at
his campaign kickoff event, Hsieh quipped that he had been
running late and had been afraid that he also could not make
it. When asked why he joined the KMT when he was young,
Hsieh joked, "I thought we were going to recover the
Mainland." Hsieh also seeks to earn credit by creating the
impression that he has made substantial personal sacrifices
for the good of the party, for example, by agreeing to run
for mayor in heavily pro-KMT Taipei City last December. Shih

TAIPEI 00001284 002 OF 002


stressed Hsieh's ability to win support from the Deep Green
by cleverly staking out positions that he can characterize in
different ways to appeal either to moderates or independence
fundamentalists. While Hsieh's stance that Taiwan now has a
"one-China constitution" sounds moderate, he also says the
constitution needs to be changed, which sounds more radical,
but then adds that it can only be changed when there is broad
consensus, which again sounds moderate.

Ma Ying-jeou
--------------


6. (C) The four Green scholars argued that KMT presidential
candidate Ma Ying-jeou does not understand the feelings of
the Taiwanese people. Ma's learning to speak Taiwanese is
not enough. His adoption of the late Qing reform-minded
Governor Liu Mingchuan as a role model is an example of Ma's
insensitivity. Liu Mingchuan was a Mainlander sent by the
government in Beijing to govern Taiwan, and is therefore not
a suitable role model to appeal to ethnic Taiwanese who want
to run their own affairs. The academics suggested that Ma's
vulnerability on the Taipei mayoral special fund case stems
not so much from the corruption issue per se but from Ma's
past efforts to portray himself as a paragon of integrity
above others, especially the DPP. Ma and the KMT also do not
have good relations with Japan, the scholars pointed out.
The KMT treats Japan as the "second enemy" because of the
Japanese invasion of China in WW II, and Ma's trip to Japan
last year went very poorly.


7. (C) Michael Hsiao suggested that KMT Chairman Wu
Poh-hsiung, a Hakka, might be a good choice as Ma's running
mate. Shih disagreed, saying putting Wu on the ticket would
turn the election into a contest between a KMT
Mainlander-Hakka coalition and the Taiwanese DPP. Shih cited
the example of Luo Wen-chia, a Hakka DPP politician who lost
to KMT Mainlander Chou Hsi-wei in the December 2005 election
for Taipei County magistrate. At the time, Shih recalled,
some Taiwanese residents had told him they were not
interested in voting. This election was "not their battle,"
they had said, since it was a contest between Hakka and
Mainlander.


8. (C) Wu Nai-teh suggested that Hsieh and Ma are both
moderate and have similar positions on cross-Strait issues.
The other Green scholars, however, said they expected Taiwan
identity and cross-Strait relations to be major issues in the
presidential campaign. Hsu Yung-ming added that the DPP will
also stress the issue of recovering "ill-gotten" KMT party
assets, the subject of a DPP initiated referendum drive.

Comment
--------------


9. (C) Today's polarized politics seem more suited to
Hsieh's warrior legislators than to the New Tide faction's
moderate intellectuals. According to these pro-Green
scholars and to many other contacts, Hsieh demonstrates
remarkable acumen in his political strategy and tactics.
Hsieh also seems very adept at working the grassroots. By
contrast, Ma Ying-jeou's lack of connection with ordinary
Taiwanese is becoming a cliche in Taiwan politics. For Ma,
the difficult challenge will be to establish such a
connection before the 2008 presidential election.
YOUNG