MEDIA REACTION: DALAI LAMA

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000197 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: DALAI LAMA Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused February 25 news coverage on this year's College Entrance Examinations results; on Saturday's legislative by-elections; and on the resignation of a KMT staffer amid allegations of sexual harassment and other controversies. In terms of editorials and commentaries, an editorial in the pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" discussed U.S. President Barack Obama's recent meeting with the Dalai Lama and said it was "a direct consequence of Beijing's own shameful behavior toward the Dalai Lama and its criminal and bloody suppression of human rights in Tibet and the rest of the PRC." End summary. "What Taiwan Can Learn from Obama-Dalai Meeting" The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation: 20,000] editorialized (2/25): "... Indeed, besides showing Washington's unwillingness to dance to Beijing's tune, Obama's decisions to meet with the Dalai Lama, allow the Tibetan leader meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and numerous congressional leaders, and hold a public news conference at the National Endowment for Democracy, was a direct consequence of Beijing's own shameful behavior toward the Dalai Lama and its criminal and bloody suppression of human rights in Tibet and the rest of the PRC. The Dalai Lama also fully realizes that to secure the support of the United States for the cause of Tibetan freedom the most important arena is not the White House but Congress and the most critical audience is the American people and therefore endeavored explained his views on non-violence and Buddhism and the importance of Tibetan culture to the widest possible audience during his whirlwind visit. "The decision by the PRC authorities to respond to the Dalai Lama's moderation with curses, insults and slanders was surely sufficient to show American citizens and politicians just who has taken on the role of the Devil in the Sino-Tibetan conundrum. The majority of Taiwan's 23 million people are also clear on this point. ... President Ma would do himself no harm by seriously studying the Dalai Lama's style of leadership and his sense of humor instead of attempting to learn containment and terror from Hu Jintao or continuing to kowtow to the Beijing authorities." STANTON