MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-TAIWAN RELATIONS

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001316 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD - NIDA EMMONS DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-TAIWAN RELATIONS Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused their September 4 news coverage on President Ma Ying-jeou's failure in realizing his economic platform proposed during the presidential campaign; on Ma's definition of cross-Strait relations as "a special non-state-to-state relationship"; and on the continuing investigation into former President Chen Shui-bian's state affairs fund and money laundering cases. In terms of editorials and commentaries, an op-ed piece in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily" criticized President Ma's excessive tilt toward China and said Ma has "become a troublemaker identical with A-Bian in the eyes of the United States." An op-ed in the pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" listed several mistakes in the Ma Administration's approaches to Taiwan's UN bid this year, including allowing the United States to continue offering no support to Taiwan for the bid. End summary. A) "Two Troublemakers in the Eyes of the United States" Former DPP Legislator Lin Cho-shui wrote in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily" [circulation: 520,000] (9/4): "The United States originally believed that the military balance in the Taiwan Strait would tip in favor of China unless Taiwan purchased new fighter jets, so it has exhausted every means it could use to persuade Taiwan to buy the F-16 C/D aircraft. Surprisingly, however, Washington said it does not want to sell the fighter jets [to Taiwan] any more. [Now] the United States and the Blue and Green camps in Taiwan are shirking the responsibility and blaming each other for the failed arms deal, and the whole issue has developed into a mysterious puzzle. The general outline concerning the evolving process of this issue has become more or less clearer: The key lies in the fact that Washington has been greatly upset by Taiwan's former President Chen Shui-bian and incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou, and that Ma has been defined by the United States as another troublemaker, succeeding Bian. ... "[Retired] Major General Huang I-li of the Ministry of National Defense Department of Strategic Planning's Division of Force Planning, who has participated many times in the negotiations for arms procurements, lately said, surprisingly, that 'a major reason behind the fact that the United States has been unwilling to settle the eight-item arms procurements as of now is that it is worried that relations between Taiwan and Mainland China would get intimate, and that the weapons Washington sells to Taiwan will likely fall into the hands of Beijing in the future!' Huang's remarks may sound horrifying, but they do not appear to be rumors. As a matter of fact, Washington has been having constant doubts about Taiwan ever since Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized in public that 'it is a good thing that Taiwan is improving ties with China, but [Taiwan] must not forget the United States.' The most serious case was of course the two noes brought up by AIT Chairman Raymond Burghardt to the Ma Administration: Namely, 'there should be no hint that China has sovereignty over Taiwan, and that Beijing cannot have the final say regarding any of Taiwan's activities in the international community. If Burghardt had really said so, it would be akin to reproaching Ma in a totally impolite manner not to look upon China as a suzerain state and see the island itself as a dependent country [of China]. The United States also asked, 'does Taiwan still need the United States to continue supporting it to become an observer in the World Health Organization next year?' ... "The afore-mentioned remarks by [retired] Major General Huang and the hearsay surrounding Burghardt will, in general, be denied by the United States in public. But these rumors are completely consistent with the logic behind Rice's doubts about whether 'Taiwan remains a friend of the United States.' Since the United States became so furious as to make a big move by abruptly refusing its arms sales [to Taiwan], it is by no means strange for Washington to express a disgraceful reproach or even upsetting scorn [to Taiwan] in private. As a result of [his] ambiguous concept of sovereignty, lack of central values and excessive defeatism, Ma mistakenly believes that his diplomatic truce, efforts to put cross-Strait relations ahead of [Taiwan's] foreign relations or even to 'request international space from China' will curry flavor with the United States. But to his surprise, he has become a troublemaker identical with A-Bian in the eyes of the United States. "China must be very happy that Ma has succeeded Bian in the role of being a troublemaker to the United States. However, the reward that [China gave to Taiwan] is anything but reassuring; that is, China's Taiwan Affairs Office Director Wang Yi was disdainful of Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA),and Chinese Ambassador to the UN Wang Guangya did not hesitate to show his disdain for Ma's low-profile attempt to participate in UN specialized agencies. Ma must be confused by all this, but it should not be difficult [for Ma] to find out the reason why. Having discovered that the United States has lowered its support for Taiwan, Beijing must reckon that now is the best time to compress Taiwan's road for survival even further. "[Ma's] excessive tilting toward China has received nothing but converging attacks from both China and the United States in return. If people are insulted by others, it must be because they insult themselves first. This is an inevitable consequence of the Ma Administration's unwise adoption of overly weak cross-Strait and diplomatic strategies." B) "Ma's Non-Bid for the UN Is Anything but Meaningful" Gerrit Van Der Wees, an editor of the Washington-based publication "Taiwan Communiqu," opined in the pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" [circulation: 30,000] (9/4): "On Aug. 15, the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou launched its version of the annual bid to join the UN. But instead of knocking on the front door and asking for membership - as was done last year by former president Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party government - Ma was meekly asking for 'meaningful participation' in UN agencies. By using this approach, Ma and his administration are undermining Taiwan's position on a number of fronts. First, it opens the door for China to claim Taiwan as its subsidiary; second, it endangers Taiwan's sovereignty because it does not take its status as a free and democratic nation as a starting point; and third, it gives the US and other Western countries an excuse to maintain their 'do nothing' approach and allow China to have its way in international organizations. ... "On the third point: While Chen's front-door approach to UN membership may have made Western governments uneasy, it did appeal to their conscience in the same way appeals from Czechoslovakia and Poland in 1938, before being invaded by Germany, made the West feel uneasy. The subsequent developments in 1938 and 1939 showed how wrong it was for the US and Western Europe to look the other way and ignore the pleas of Czechs and Poles. Ma's approach has echoes of a modern-day Neville Chamberlain: He pretends to be working for 'peace in our time,' but his actions and policies are strengthening a repressive giant's claims on a democratic neighbor. ..." WANG