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 TAIPEI 00000420 002 OF 002 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