PRESIDENT-ELECT MA YING-JEOU MOVES INTO TRANSITION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 000420

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2023
TAGS: PREL PGOV CH TW
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT-ELECT MA YING-JEOU MOVES INTO TRANSITION
PHASE


Classified By: AIT Director Stephen M. Young. Reason(s):
1.4 (B/D)


1. (C) Summary. The Ma campaign team is shifting into
transition mode, with much of the campaign staff moving to
the new transition team. President-elect Ma plans to move
quickly on selecting his senior administration members so
that the Ma transition team can begin addressing the numerous
domestic and foreign policy issues facing the new
administration. Senior Ma advisors are starting to request
USG briefings on important foreign policy, trade and security
issues, explaining that the press of the campaign had left
them unfamiliar with many of the most pressing issues in
U.S.-Taiwan relations. End Summary.

From Campaign to Transition
--------------


2. (C) On the margins of the Director's meeting with
president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (reported septel),Ma foreign
policy advisor Su Chi told AIT that the campaign team is now
shifting into the transition phase. They will close Ma
presidential campaign headquarters on March 24-25 and set up
transition offices in the KMT headquarters across town.
There Ma campaign director (and KMT Vice Chairman) Chan
Chun-po will become transition director. The nascent
transition team first met into the early morning hours of
Sunday, following Ma's Saturday evening victory speech, to
set up the transition team, which will consist of Ma campaign
staffers and KMT headquarters personnel. Ma will make a
two-day whistle-stop -- five minutes per stop -- appreciation
trip down the populous west coast of Taiwan on March 25-26
while the transition offices are being set up.

Cross-Strait Prospects
--------------


3. (C) Su said the Ma camp has had "no contact" with the PRC
for the past year, as Ma did not want to give the DPP any
ammunition with which to accuse him of "selling out Taiwan."
Su expressed confidence that the "one China, different
interpretations" formulation that he developed and that Ma
has publicly endorsed will be acceptable to Beijing. This
formulation, he argued, will allow the two sides to move
ahead on cross-Strait negotiations without having to pin down
the exact definition of "one China." He pointed out that the
first steps -- negotiations on expanding cross-Strait charter
flights and PRC tourists visiting Taiwan -- had already been
worked out via the "Macao Channel" by the Taipei Airline
Association, but had been held in abeyance by Beijing pending
the presidential elections so as not to give President Chen
any credit.

WHO, Other IO's, and International Space
--------------


4. (C) Su Chi expressed concern over Taiwan's stance at the
World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting in Geneva May 19-24,
though noting that he has not yet shared this concern with
president-elect Ma. Unfortunately, he said, the WHA is set
to begin on May 19, one day before Ma's inauguration, which
gives the Chen administration leeway to once again create
problems for Taiwan and the incoming administration. (Note:
At last year's WHA, the Chen administration applied for full
WHO membership, which subsequently complicated efforts of te
U.S. and other nations to enhance Taiwan's "meaningful
participation" in WHO activities.) Given the timing,
Taiwan's actions at the WHA meeting could complicate Ma's
future cross-Strait policy, Su noted, particularly if
President Chen decided to again to go for full membership.


5. (C) AIT mentioned other salient international
organization issues facing Taiwan, including OECD and ICAO,
neither of which Su Chi was familiar with. Su Chi explained
that he and his colleagues on the Ma campaign team had been
too busy working on the campaign to familiarize themselves
about specific problems. He requested USG assistance in

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learning about these international issues. They are, he
said, a higher priority than the UN, which could be put off
until later, because each of these issues could serve as
confidence-building measures instead of conflict points.

Note on Chen Pardon
--------------


6. (C) Ma foreign policy advisor John Feng separately told
AIT that Ma and his advisors had discussed the issue of a
pardon for President Chen. Ma, he said, will likely pardon
President Chen if Chen is indicted and convicted for
corruption, but only after Chen steps down from the
presidency. Taiwan law, he explained, provides for criminal
pardons only after conviction.

Comment
--------------


7. (C) The Ma camp is just beginning to address in detail
the issues on which it has been campaigning in broad brush
strokes. Both Ma and his advisors appear to have limited
current information on the many diplomatic, international,
economic issues that will confront the new administration on
May 20. Separate conversations with KMT legislative leaders
indicate they are similarly overwhelmed by the enormity of
the task facing the newly-halved (in size) legislature,
forcing them to fall back on personal ties (guanxi) for
information in the absence of a credible functioning LY
staffing system. AIT will be working with the Ma transition
team and incoming administration officials and with the new
legislative leadership to assess how we can help on
information.

YOUNG