MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-TAIWAN RELATIONS

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001515 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: U.S.-TAIWAN RELATIONS Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused December 22 news coverage on the decision that an agreement on double taxation will not be signed at the fourth round of cross-Strait negotiations; on protests surrounding the ongoing cross-Strait negotiation; and the death of a seven-year-old boy after having the H1N1 vaccine. In terms of editorials and commentaries, former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Nat Bellocchi wrote an op-ed, saying that the United States' Taiwan policy of maintaining the "status quo" has in fact "whittled away Taiwan's room for maneuver and consequently our own ability to maneuver." Bellocchi urged the United States to show more of its support to Taiwan. End summary. "U.S. Should Stop Fooling Around and Back Taiwan" Nat Bellocchi, former AIT Chairman and a special adviser of the Liberty Times Group, opined in the pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" circulation: 30,000 (12/22): "... The US itself is built on the precept of change. The nation was born out of the belief that Americans have the vision, ingenuity and perseverance to make the world a better place. Thus, our policies have always supported change ... in the right direction. That is why it is peculiar that in one specific area we cling to the 'status quo' - our policy toward Taiwan. ... "All of this is important in view of the references in the US-China Joint Statement issued at the end of US President Barack Obama's visit to China, in which the two countries 'reiterated that the fundamental principle of respect for each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity is at the core of the three US-China joint communiqus.' The US said this paragraph only referred to Tibet and East Turkestan, but China's foreign ministry emphatically stated it also referred to Taiwan. "These episodes illustrate how little attention and import the US has given to Taiwan. By clinging to an imaginary 'status quo' we have allowed China to whittle away Taiwan's room for maneuver and consequently our own ability to maneuver. What has been gained by limiting options? "By pretending to maintain stability and the status quo, we have undermined the possibilities for change in the right direction: a furtherance of democratic principles. The US should be pointing to Taiwan as a model for peaceful transition to a system that is designed to endure peaceful transitions of power." STANTON