MEDIA REACTION: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S TRIP TO ASIA,

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001352 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: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S TRIP TO ASIA, CROSS-STRAIT RELATIONS ¶1. Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused news coverage November 13 on the Taiwan government's probe into the toxic ducks found in Kaohsiung; on the APEC meetings currently going on in Singapore; and on developments in cross-Strait relations. The KMT-leaning "China Times" ran a banner headline on page three reading "[U.S. President Barack] Obama to Arrive in Tokyo Today, Will Expound [His] Asian Policy." ¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, a column in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily" discussed Obama's trip to Asia and said relations between China and the United States have undergone a substantive transformation compared with years ago. An op-ed in the pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" suggested that Obama take a new approach and discuss clean air as a human rights matter with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao. With regard to cross-Strait relations, an editorial in the pro-independence "Liberty Times" criticized President Ma Ying-jeou's plan to sign a peace pact with Beijing within his term of office. The article said the peace pact is nothing but a belated, formal surrender by the Nationalist Party to the Chinese Communist Party. End summary. ¶3. President Obama's Trip to Asia A) "Obama's Trip to Asia" Columnist Antonio Chiang wrote in his column in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily" [circulation: 520,000] (11/13): "The United States' influence in the Asia-Pacific region has been on the decline, while China's influence in the area is growing day by day. It is already too late if [U.S. President Barack] Obama wants to take advantage of his nine-day trip to Asia to turn the tide. But still, Asia has very high expectations for the Obama administration, a situation quite different from that under the [former] Bush administration. Ten years ago, [U.S. President Bill] Clinton made a guarantee to the Congress, saying that Beijing's accession to the World Trade Organization would strengthen democratic power in China, and that economic freedom would eventually lead to political freedom. Such a viewpoint has long since become extinct. China has become the United States' biggest creditor -- a kind of change that has made Washington's preaching to China about human rights sound meaningless. By contrast, [Chinese Premier] Wen Jiabao, speaking in an admonishing tone of a creditor to debtor, openly urged the United States to 'keep its credit and commitment so as to ensure the safety of Chinese assets.' It is obvious that Sino-U.S. relations have undergone a substantive transformation. "Sino-U.S. ties have turned into an equal and cooperative relationship of the G2, and Obama needs Hu Jintao's assistance on issues from North Korea and Iran to climate change. Both sides share an active and optimistic relationship while there are no new barriers emerging between them. Such a development differs completely from the relations between the United States and Japan. ..." B) "Clean Air Is Key in Talks between Hu and Obama" Zhu Zhiqun, an associate professor of political science and international relations at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania and the University's John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur chair in East Asian politics, opined in the pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" [circulation: 30,000] (11/13): "When US President Barack Obama makes his first visit to China next week, human rights is likely to be one of the major issues in his talks with Chinese leaders. While it will be a great opportunity for him to express his concerns for human rights in China, he should address it with a different strategy and focus than past US leaders. Instead of openly challenging the Chinese government on issues like political freedom and Tibet, which are bound to anger Chinese leaders and are not really helpful for improving human rights conditions in China, Obama should promote the idea of clean air as a human right. ... "... If Obama continues to talk about human rights only through the lens of political and religious freedom during his visit, he is likely to alienate much of the Chinese public. Instead, he should raise China's environmental degradation as a human rights issue and offer the US' strong support for a better environment in China. Clean air is a basic human right that all Chinese care about, but do not have. ... The Obama-Hu meeting in Beijing will be a litmus test of how serious they are in curbing greenhouse gases. To a large extent, a successful Obama visit to China depends on whether the two countries will agree to cooperate on clean air in China and elsewhere." ¶4. Cross-Strait Relations CROSS-STRAIT RELATIONS "'Peace' Is Just Another [Way] to Sell Out Taiwan" The pro-independence "Liberty Times" [circulation: 680,000] editorialized (11/13): "President Ma Ying-jeou said recently that he is willing to try his best to fulfill the signing of a peace pact with mainland China within his term of office. President Ma used the so-called 1992 consensus to resume talks with China and bragged about the false appearance of peace. [If he] tries 'his best to sign a peace pact with mainland China,' Taiwan will certainly have to pay the price with its sovereignty, except that Ma dared not say it so clearly. The peace pact, as Ma envisions it, is not built on equal state-to-state relations between Taiwan and China, but is a problem left behind from the civil war between the Nationalist Party and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Frankly speaking, such a peace accord is a belated, formal surrender by the Nationalist Party to the CCP. ... President Ma has not only betrayed those who insist on Taiwan's sovereignty but also those who believe that he will safeguard the Republic of China (ROC). Selling out Taiwan on the one hand while betraying the ROC on the other, President Ma is not a political moron but an ambitious schemer. ..." STANTON