MEDIA REACTION: OBAMA'S NOMINATION VICTORY

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000780 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: OBAMA'S NOMINATION VICTORY Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused June 5 news coverage on Senator Barack Obama becoming the Democratic Party's presidential nominee; on Taiwan Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou's green card controversy; on President Ma Ying-jeou's statement on the 19th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre Wednesday; and on planned visits by Taiwan's city and county chiefs to China. In terms of editorials and commentaries, a column in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily" commented on Obama's nomination victory, saying it proved that the United States has arrived at a historical turning point. An op-ed piece in the pro-unification "United Daily News" also said that given Obama's ethnic background, the nomination victory itself is of great historical significance. End summary. A) "The United States Standing on a Turning Point" Columnist Antonio Chiang noted in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily" [circulation: 520,000] (6/5): "... Media in Europe have showed a lopsided aversion to [Senator] Hillary Clinton and an inexplicable liking for [Senator] Barack Obama. A similar phenomenon can also be seen in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. Obama stands for a new America, whereas Clinton symbolizes not only the extension of an old era but also the successor of the Clinton dynasty. It will not be easy for Obama to defeat John McCain of the Republican Party, and it is still too early to tell whether Obama will make significant changes in foreign policy. But Obama's capture of the Democratic Party's presidential nomination has proven that U.S. society has arrived at a historical turning point." B) "The Key to Obama's White House Dream Lies in [Picking the Right] Running Mate" Yan Cheng-sheng, director of the Institute of International Relations' America-Europe Division, National Chengchi University, opined in the pro-unification "United Daily News" [circulation: 400,000] (6/5): "... The fact that [Senator] Barack Obama, who represents a minority group that accounts for 12 percent of the entire population in the United States, was able to clinch the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, is a development of great historic significance. Whether the American voters are willing to cross over the fence of ethnicity and support Obama to win the presidency in the future will depend on whether the other voters, mainly composed of the whites, will be able to overcome their psychological barriers. ... "On January 19, 2009, people will celebrate the 80th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, and the inauguration of the new U.S. president will fall on the next day, and twenty days later, people will celebrate the two hundredth birthday of former President Abraham Lincoln, who liberated black slaves. With a greater sense of history, the American voters ought to be happy to see Obama elected as the next U.S. president - the most powerful testimony of the remarkable legacy left behind by these two great men in history." WANG