MEDIA REACTION: COUNTERTERRORISM

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001110 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/P, EAP/PD - THOMAS HAMM DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: COUNTERTERRORISM Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused September 12-14 news coverage on the verdicts concerning former President Chen Shui-bian's corruption case, on the H1N1 epidemic in Taiwan, and on the reconstruction in areas hit by Typhoon Morakot. In terms of editorials and commentaries, a news analysis in the KMT-leaning "China Times" commented on the latest announcement by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the United States and China are to expand their dialogue to cover counterterrorism. The news analysis said the cooperation is probably because the United States and China both have noticed that terrorist forces in the Middle East and in "East Turkistan" might converge. China has also realized that only by working with the United States can China eradicate the threat posed by the terrorism, separatism and extremism. End summary. "Countering Terrorism, China and the United States Might Open the Dialogue" Journalist Wang Ming-yi noted in an analysis in the KMT-leaning "China Times" [circulation: 120,000] (9/12): "United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and China's National People's Congress Chairman Wu Bangguo attended a business forum in Washington, D.C., on September 10. While delivering her speech, Clinton revealed that the United States and China might hold talks on counterterrorism this fall. ... "On the eighth anniversary of the 'September 11th incident,' Clinton revealed that China and the United States are going to open a dialogue on counterterrorism. One cannot help wondering whether it is because Washington expects China to play a more robust role in international counterterrorism efforts or because Beijing, when facing the Lhasa incident [of March 14, 2008] and the Urumqi incident [of July 5, 2009] is purposely seeks [the help of] Washington to eradicate the international terrorism forces behind the Tibetan and Xinjiang independent movements. ... "What prompted China and the United States to return to the ground of [cooperation in] counterterrorism established during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Shanghai [in October 2001]; open the dialogue on counterterrorism; and seek new measures to jointly fight against terrorism was probably the fact that the two countries once again realize that the international terrorist forces that China and the United States jointly face, which are the terrorist forces in the Middle East and in East Turkistan, might integrate and connect with one another. ... "The 'three forces [which are terrorism, separatism, and extremism],' in Central Asia are the extreme forces which refuse to abide by norms in the international community. The threat and infiltration of Xinjiang posed by the East Turkistan forces have apparently become a major worry to the Beijing authorities. It seems that for China, in addition to defending its border areas and maintaining stability among ethnic groups, the only correct path is to seek cooperation with the United States to establish an international counterterrorism battle line." STANTON