MEDIA REACTION: TAIWAN'S UN REFERENDA, KOSOVO DECLARATION

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000229 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: TAIWAN'S UN REFERENDA, KOSOVO DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE ¶1. Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused news coverage February 20 on the March presidential election and the UN referenda; on Taiwan's official acknowledgement of Kosovo independence; and on the controversy regarding whether the island should continue construction of its fourth nuclear power plant. The pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" front-paged an exclusive news story quoting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as saying Monday that Kosovo's independence was a special case and did not set a precedent for other territories seeking independence. In terms of editorials and commentaries, an op-ed in the centrist, KMT-leaning "China Times" discussed Taiwan's UN referenda, saying that it is the "name" that Taiwan intends to use for its UN membership, not the procedures, that is the problem. An editorial in the pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" discussed Kosovo's declaration of independence and said it "generated mixed reaction abroad and in Taiwan." End summary. ¶2. Taiwan's UN Referenda "The Sensitivity of [UN] Referenda Does Not Lie in Their Procedures" Shao Chung-hai, visiting professor at the Macau Polytechnic Institute, opined in the centrist, KMT-leaning "China Times" [circulation: 400,000] (2/20): "... Given that what happened to Kosovo on the Balkan Peninsula will likely trigger a trend [encouraging] some ethnic minorities to move toward independence, Beijing will surely be more prudent in handling [Taiwan's] 'referenda' issue. As for the role Washington has been playing in such a controversy by making harsh remarks to Taipei, many people tend to interpret as they have because the [UN referenda] are not consistent with U.S. national interests. But such interpretation does not sound very convincing when it comes to the question of why [Taiwan's UN referenda] will endanger the United States' national interests. [More questions also rise] when people see the strong support the United States offered to Kosovo when the latter declared independence, even at the risk of offending Russia and facing Serbia's strong backlash. The difference [in the U.S. attitude] indicated [the possibility that] Taipei has failed to estimate accurately the strategic interests between Beijing and 
Washington. Or perhaps Taipei has underestimated the opposite parties, believing that Beijing and Washington will just make some loud noises [without taking real action], even if Taiwan conducts the referenda. "As it stands now, it is sure that the referenda will be held, and more criticism will not undo what is done. But Taipei can still make a U-turn if it realizes that the key lies in the name [that Taiwan uses to apply for the UN membership], whereas the procedure was never an issue." ¶3. Kosovo Declaration of Independence "Mixed Messages of Kosovo Liberty" The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation: 20,000] editorialized (2/20): "Sunday's declaration of independence of the small Balkan state of Kosovo, a former landlocked province of Serbia which has been under limited self-government and United Nations administration since mid-1999 after a military intervention by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, generated mixed reactions abroad and in Taiwan. ... As noted in an earlier editorial ("Why Kosovo, not Taiwan?" on June 14, 2007),citizens of Taiwan can be forgiven for feeling a bit envious for the rush by the United States and other democratic states to 'provoke' the powerful Russian Federation by encouraging and recognizing the independence of a state which remains politically unstable and requires security assistance from a United Nations peace-keeping force and has questionable economic viability. "In contrast, these same democratic paragons remain unwilling to even consider acknowledging the existence of Taiwan's fully independent democratic republic and instead fall over themselves in their eagerness to appease the PRC by slamming the Taiwan government for allowing the holding of referenda in which the Taiwan people will have their first ever opportunity to express their views on whether they want to join the U.N. ... Interestingly, the positive response of Taiwan's foreign ministry was at odds with the reaction of its counterpart in the Chinese Communist Party-ruled PRC, which expressed 'deep concern' over 'Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.' ... "... Evidently, Beijing has no intention of following its own advice to Kosovo and Serbia and believes that 'negotiations to reach a OF INDEPENDENCE mutually acceptable plan' is a genuine option for relations between the democratic and self-governing Taiwan and the authoritarian PRC. Liu's statement takes on special significance given its concurrence with our March 22 presidential election since it convincingly shows that the PRC government will allow no room for ambiguity that its 'one-China principle' defines Taiwan as nothing else than 'part of the PRC' regardless of Taiwan's actual existing independence or the will of our 23 million people. "Liu's statement stands as a confirmation that the position offered by KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou that cross-Strait negotiations can be reignited by acceptance of 'the Consensus of 1992' which Ma defines as 'one China with separate interpretations' and which he maintains that 'China' as the 'Republic of China' is nothing more than a self-deceiving delusion. Beijing has not adopted a strategy of 'different positions toward insiders and outsiders' but has followed a 'single standard' of demanding Taiwan's surrender of its 'outsider' status as a democratic independent state and acceptance a subordinate 'insider' status under the PRC as the price of 'peace.'" YOUNG