PRC ARATS CHAIRMAN CHEN YUNLIN BEGINS HISTORIC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TAIPEI 001554 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/03/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV CH TW SUBJECT: PRC ARATS CHAIRMAN CHEN YUNLIN BEGINS HISTORIC TAIWAN VISIT AMIDST TIGHT SECURITY REF: A. TAIPEI 1548 ¶B. TAIPEI 1539 ¶C. TAIPEI 1508 ¶D. TAIPEI 1484 Classified By: AIT Director Stephen M. Young, Reasons: 1.4 (b/d) ¶1. (C) Summary: PRC Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin arrived in Taiwan on November 3 for an historic four-day visit. Chen will hold cross-Strait talks with Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman P. K. Chiang on November 4, and the two sides will sign four agreements on air and sea transportation, postal links, and food safety (see refs for information on these agreements). Chen will have a highly anticipated meeting with President Ma Ying-jeou on November 6, and he will also meet other important political figures from the ruling party camp. The independence-leaning DPP and other opposition organizations are protesting Chen's visit, and the police are taking very extensive security measures to protect Chen and prevent demonstrators from disrupting the visit. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) PRC Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin arrived at the Taoyuan International Airport aboard a special charter flight from Beijing shortly before noon on Monday, November 3, to begin an historic four-day visit to Taipei, the first ever visit to Taiwan by a high-level PRC representative. Chen and his wife were greeted at planeside by Straits Exchange Foundation Deputy Chairman Kao Koong-lien and then whisked by police-escorted motorcade to the Grand Hotel in Taipei. At the airport, Chen issued a brief written statement. Brief Remarks on Arriving at the Grand Hotel -------------- ¶3. (SBU) After being greeted at the hotel entrance by SEF Chairman P. K. Chiang (Chiang Pin-kung),Chiang and Chen delivered brief remarks to the assembled press. Chiang stressed the historic significance of Chen's visit and how it could contribute to peace and economic cooperation to the benefit of both sides. Although many people were looking forward to Chen's visit, Taiwan was a democracy and there were people with "different views," which precluded travel to the central and southern parts of Taiwan. However, Chiang said, he believed the public supported cross-Strait consultations and the four agreements that the two sides would be signing. These agreements would help ordinary travelers, small businesses, and also consumers who were concerned about food safety. ¶4. (SBU) Chen said he was moved by the welcome he had received and conveyed greetings from the people of the mainland to their Taiwan "compatriots." He would have two important tasks during his visit: to hold talks and sign agreements on four topics, and to exchange views on the economic impact of the world financial crisis and on how to improve procedures for travelers and increase the number of mainland tourists traveling to Taiwan. In addition, Chen said, the two sides would discuss arrangements the next round of SEF-ARATS talks in 2009, which would include financial issues. Chen stressed that his mission was very clear and simple, and would benefit both sides, adding that he would not touch on cross-Strait or on Taiwan domestic political issues. Chen Yunlin's Scheduled Activities -------------- ¶5. (C) Following their brief remarks to the media, Chiang and Chen headed to a working lunch in the hotel. Later in the afternoon, Chen paid a visit to the widow of the late Koo Chen-fu, the first SEF chairman, and then, after viewing the night scene from atop the Taipei 101 skyscraper, was scheduled to attend a dinner hosted by P. K. Chiang in the TAIPEI 00001554 002 OF 003 world's tallest building. On Tuesday morning, Chiang and Chen will hold the formal SEF-ARATS talks, after which the SEF and ARATS Deputy Chairmen will hold separate press briefings. In the early afternoon, Chen and Chiang will sign the four cross-Strait agreements covering air transportation, sea transportation (direct shipping),direct postal links, and cooperation on food safety. Following this signing ceremony, Chiang and Chen will hold separate press conferences. ¶6. (C) On Tuesday-Thursday (November 4-6),Chen will have banquets or meals with various political figures, including KMT Honorary Chairman Lien Chan, KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung, People First Party Chairman James Soong, and Legislative Yuan (LY) President Wang Jin-pyng (KMT),and also with the Taiwan business community. He will pay respects at the memorial of the late Wang Yung-ching, meet with Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairperson Lai Shin-yuan, visit the Hsinchu Science Park and an orchid farm, attend seminars on economic and financial cooperation, and attend a press conference on the gift exchange of rare animals, including two pandas which the PRC will be sending to Taiwan. Chen and his delegation will depart Taiwan Friday morning, November 7. Meeting with President Ma Ying-jeou -------------- ¶7. (C) The most important meeting by far during Chen's visit will come late in the afternoon on Thursday, November 6, when Chen will have a one-hour discussion with President Ma Ying-jeou at the official Taipei Guest House. This meeting is attracting much attention here, particularly the question of the title (if any) Chen will use to refer to Ma. Ma has said that regardless of how Chen addresses him, he will meet Chen in his capacity as president. NSC Deputy Secretary General Ho Sze-yin told the Deputy Director today that the two sides have worked out a solution to this issue. Without providing exact details, he cited as an example that the announcer at the initial media-covered portion of the meeting could formally present Ma to Chen as "President Ma Ying-jeou," with the PRC visitor presumably offering no objection. Protests -------------- ¶8. (SBU) The DPP and other opposition parties and organizations with an independence bent are launching protests against Chen's visit. The DPP will hold vigils outside the LY the nights of November 3-5. Then, on November 6, DPP demonstrators will march and surround the area of the Taipei Guest House, where President Ma will be meeting with Chen. Demonstrators will have yellow ribbons bearing in English and Chinese the words "Taiwan is My Country," and they will tie the ribbons to barricades and other objects. Although the police have rejected the DPP's application to hold this demonstration, the party plans to do so anyway and is mobilizing its supporters to participate. The pro-independence Taiwan Society is trying to recruit people to throw eggs at Chen, though police preventive measures will make this difficult. In addition to demonstrations by independence-leaning organizations, we have also noted a small, brief protest by pro-Tibet activists. Tight Security -------------- ¶9. (C) The police are implementing very extensive security measures aimed at preventing protesters from disrupting Chen's visit. These measures include the deployment of 7,000 police and setting up of police cordons and barricades around the hotel where Chen is staying. Small numbers of protesters this morning received extensive media coverage but were unable to get near Chen either at the airport, on the highway, or at the hotel. Before Chen's arrival, several Taichung council member hotel guests succeeded very briefly TAIPEI 00001554 003 OF 003 in deploying two large banners on the outside of the building, but police quickly rolled up the banners. So far, there have been reports only of pulling and shoving incidents between some protesters and the police, which have received extensive television coverage. At least one large protest banner has been put up on a building not far from where Chen is staying and may be allowed to remain. Demonstrators and the police will most likely be playing a cat-and-mouse game over the coming days, with extensive media coverage. In addition to protesting Chen's visit, the DPP is also protesting that the government's extraordinary security measures are denying it the right to express their views through political demonstrations. Comment -------------- ¶10. (C) Chen's visit reciprocates the visit by P. K. Chiang to Beijing in June for the last round of SEF-ARATS talks, which resulted in agreements on weekend cross-Strait charter flights and an increase in PRC tourism to Taiwan. Three of the four agreements to be signed this round build on previous progress. The other agreement, on food safety, concerns an issue of great importance to the Taiwan public because of the import of melamine-tainted milk products from the mainland. Protests against Chen's visit are focused mostly on sovereignty and related issues, not on the agreements to be signed. Overall, recent polling indicates about 50 percent of the public here approve Chen's visit, 31 percent object, and 19 percent are uncertain or do not have an opinion. ¶11. (C) Both sides run some risks in the parallel Blue-Green show of forces this week. The KMT government could open itself up to criticism that it has reverted to authoritarian methods in order to suppress protests, while the DPP may lose popular support if opposition protests spill over into violence or lawlessness. Undoubtedly, each side will rush to declare victory at the end of what promises to be a raucous week here in Taipei. SYOUNG