MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-CHINA-TAIWAN RELATIONS

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000161 SIPDIS 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.-CHINA-TAIWAN RELATIONS Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused news coverage February 1 on KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's green card controversy, on the March presidential poll, and on some public health hazard cases in Taiwan. In terms of editorials and commentaries, an editorial in the pro-independence "Liberty Times" called the public's attention to China's military expansion, which, according to the article, will result in regional military imbalance and create a threat to cross-Strait security and world peace. An editorial in the pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" discussed Taiwan's UN referenda and criticized other democratic countries for putting themselves at Beijing's service to put pressure on the DPP administration over the UN referendum. End summary. A) "Be Vigilant That China's Military Expansion Will Result in [Military] Imbalance in the Region" The pro-independence "Liberty Times" [circulation: 720,000] editorialized (2/1): "... China's military development over the past few years, be it in the aspect of military scale, budgets, adjustments in its strategy and tactics, and in particular, its military purpose, has attracted worldwide attention and generated considerable discussion. It is generally believed that ... China's threats have created a severe impact on world peace and order. ... The United States, as a result, has published reports seven times on China's military strength in which it expressed worry about the regional [military] imbalance caused by China's military expansion and Beijing's true intent behind such a move. Washington also pointed out that China's capabilities to develop advanced weapons systems have empowered Beijing the 'destructive military technology' and the 'greatest potential' to counterbalance U.S. military strength. Indeed, it is difficult for any outsider to judge China's real intent behind its military expansion. But the negative impact that has already been generated [by China's continuous military buildup] can highlight the fact that China's intent is by no means self-defense, rather [it is] secret schemes against Taiwan and attempts to intervene in SIPDIS international affairs. "In other words, even if China asserted that its rise is peaceful and it will not seek hegemony, various signs show that China is making full preparation for turning itself into a hegemonic power. China has deployed more than one thousand missiles targeting Taiwan and conducted exercises using guided missiles in the Taiwan Strait, triggering severe threats in the Taiwan Strait, the so-called 'lifeline' of East Asia. In addition, in order to secure its energy resources, China also supports some notorious totalitarian countries that suppress human rights, [support] international terrorism and violate non-proliferation practice. In short, China follows a policy of expansionism by military means, whereas Taiwan is, without a doubt, its number one prey. But China's evil ambitions will by no means be satiated solely by invading Taiwan. If China fails to renounce its belief in socialism, its obsession with Great China nationalism, and its autocracy, the constant expansion of Beijing's military buildup will only turn the country into a source of turmoil and conflict for the world. This is the focal point that the entire world should be concerned about." B) "Possible Fates Awaiting Taiwan" The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation: 20,000] editorialized (2/1): "... Despite repeated claims of fealty to the values of democracy and freedom, the U.S. and the EU, along with many less democratic states, continue to oppose the entry of a democratic and highly developed Taiwan into sovereignty-based international organizations, such as the United Nations and the global security system, simply because of the claim and threats of an expansionist authoritarian power. By encouraging the belief among Beijing's hardliners that 'might is right,' this renewed policy of appeasement could spark a regional or perhaps even global conflict as well as result in the selling out of the 23 million people of Taiwan and their right for democratic self-determination, just as London and Paris sold out the democratic Republic of Czechoslovakia to Hitler and acquiesced in the overthrow of the Spanish Republic by the fascist forces of Francisco Franco, who received active support from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. "But Taiwan also appears to be in the process of sharing analogous historical experiences with its relationship with democratic leaders, specially the U.S., with Latin American states such Guatemala and Chile as Washington has shifted in recent months from a 'strategic ambiguity' regarding the PRC's threat to Taiwan's democratic republic to a position of actively assisting Beijing in putting Taiwan's democracy into a Chinese-designed birdcage. The 'timely' intervention of the U.S. administration of right-wing Republican President George W. Bush against the center-left DPP government of President Chen Shui-bian parallels the actions of the Republican administration of the late U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower against the center-left government of the late Guatemalan president Jacobo Arbenz in the early 1950s. ... "Despite the fact that all of the countries opposing Taiwan's referendums regularly conduct referendums, senior diplomatic officials in the U.S. and the EU have expressed open opposition to the referendum on whether Taiwan should apply to join the United Nations under the name of Taiwan proposed by the DPP and other civic organizations and put on the ballot not by the will of President Chen but by the signatures from 2.72 million citizens. ... As foreign diplomats in Taipei have privately admitted, such 'democratic' governments have put themselves at Beijing's service to put pressure on the DPP government and overlooked the possibility that such pressure could contribute to the restoration of 'one party monopoly' KMT rule. The capturing of absolute legislative control by the KMT on January 12 has made the reversal of Taiwan's democratic progress a very real possibility, but this prospect has evidently not discouraged U.S. officials from continuing to pressure the DPP government. ..." YOUNG