MEDIA REACTION: ARMS SALES TO TAIWAN, INTERNET FREEDOM

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 000259

DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/CM, EAP/PA, EAP/PD, C
HQ PACOM FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR (J007)
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL ECON SENV KGHG KMDR OPRC CH

SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: ARMS SALES TO TAIWAN, INTERNET FREEDOM

--------------
Editorial Quotes
--------------

ARMS SALES TO TAIWAN

a. "The preemptive Cold War mentality"

The official Communist Party People's Daily (Renmin Ribao)(01/30)(pg
3): "When facing the United States' preemptive Cold War mentality
and moral hypocrisy demonstrated in its arms sales to Taiwan, the
people are very surprised. The 'Taiwan Relations Act' is itself a
product of Cold War mentality. Today, the U.S. government not only
failed to fulfill its promise to gradually reduce arms sales to
Taiwan and, over a period of time, to reach a final settlement, but
also increasingly demonstrated their arbitrary inclinations. The
U.S. government's actions have created tension. At its base, the
United States intends to draw an ideological line, ending and
guarding against China's development and progress by using every
possible means. The U.S. government is ignoring U.S.-China
relations and is giving-in to military and industrial enterprises.
This is a pathetic and short-sighted strategy. Over the past year,
the U.S. government tried to demonstrate an attitude based on
'change' within a series of major international issues; but arms
sales to Taiwan run counter to this attitude. While claiming to
respect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the U.S.
sent, through this arms sale, a seriously wrong signal. While
shouting its support for the peaceful development of cross-strait
relations, it has produced new instability in the Taiwan Strait
area. All of these issues; aren't they typical of the moral
hypocrisy of the United States? The Chinese Foreign Ministry has
announced that, since the U.S.'s arms sales to Taiwan have seriously
damaged Sino-U.S. relations, China has decided to take
countermeasures. If the U.S. government does not recognize and
withdraw from its wrong decision as soon as possible, instead
blindly following its Cold War mentality at the expense of China's
core interests and major concerns, the U.S. will further damage
Sino-U.S. relations, undermining the course of world peace, and
will, in the end, suffer the consequence themselves."

b. "China to impose sanctions against U.S. enterprises selling arms
to Taiwan"

The Shanghai-based Shanghai Media Group (SMG) publication, China
Business News (Diyi Caijing)(02/01)(pg A4): "Sun Zhe, director of
Research Center for China-U.S. Relations at Tsinghua University,
said that since the 1979 establishment of Sino-U.S. diplomatic
relations, the United States has never abided by the three Sino-U.S.
joint communiqus on arms sales to Taiwan. Ye Hailin, a researcher
of the Asia-Pacific Political Office at the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences, said that Sino-U.S. relations should not be left to
the mercy of the United States. Whenever it needs bilateral
cooperation, it will seek cooperation with China; but whenever it
needs to solve its domestic issues, it will play the China card,
which for China is unacceptable. The U.S.'s arms sales to Taiwan
may not drag Sino-U.S. relations down to the level in 2001, after
the plane collision incident at South China Sea, but the
relationship will certainly not be like Obama thinks, one to just
pass on. This time the American companies that China will sanction
will mainly be Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin who produce Patriot-3
missiles. It will be more effective for Sikorsky who has both
military and civilian products. Chinese Foreign Ministry officials
also said that Sino-U.S. cooperation on key international and
regional issues will inevitably be affected."

c. "Arms sales sours ties"

The official English-language newspaper China Daily (2/01)(pg 8):
"Despite Beijing's repeated protests and warnings of serious
consequences for Sino-U.S. relations, Washington, as always, went
its own way over the weekend and gave the nod to a massive arms sale
package to Taiwan. This is the stance the U.S. has taken vis-a-vis
a 'stakeholder' - and sometimes 'constructive partner' - terms that
it uses to describe China's ties with the world and itself. Uncle
Sam's $6.4 billion arms package to equip Taiwan, including Patriot
anti-missile systems, Black Hawk helicopters and Harpoon missiles,
reminds us how grudgingly Washington sees China's rise and its
unwillingness to see compatriots across the Straits live in peace.
Washington's arrogance also reflects the stark reality of how a
nation's interests could be trampled upon by another. We have to
forget the pledge that "the United States does not seek to contain
China" made by Barack Obama when he was warmly welcomed in Beijing
just two months ago. Sincerity is subject to proof of action, not
mere words. The U.S. promised in a joint communiqu signed on Aug
17, 1982 - which forms the cornerstone of Sino-U.S. relations - that
"it does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to
Taiwan". It also pledged that Washington "intends to reduce
gradually its sales of arms to Taiwan, leading over a period of time
to a final resolution". But how many times has Washington trashed

BEIJING 00000259 002 OF 002


its words for the sake of expediency or other ulterior motives? For
the world's only superpower, it now seems that a promise is not a
promise. The arms sale is gross interference in China's internal
affairs. It seriously undermines China's national security and
national reunification, and thus inevitably casts a long shadow on
Sino-U.S. relations. China's response, no matter how vehement, is
justified. No country worthy of respect can sit idle while its
national security is endangered and core interests damaged. The
U.S. decision not only runs counter to the common dream of pursuing
development and cooperation among the people on both sides of the
Taiwan Straits, but also exposes the U.S.' usage of double standards
and hypocrisy on major issues related to China's core interests.
Compared with the U.S., China is still weak, both economically and
militarily. The countermeasures that China has taken - ranging from
repeated protests to plans to halt military exchanges and punish
U.S. companies involved in the arms sale - may not be forceful
enough to compel Washington to mend its ways. But a message has to
be sent loud and clear: If the U.S. shows no respect to China's core
interests, it cannot expect cooperation from China on a wide range
of major regional and international issues. China must make sure
that it means what it says."

INTERNET FREEDOM

"Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson responded to a question on
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and the U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton's meeting on internet freedom"

The official Communist Party People's Daily (Renmin Ribao)
(01/30)(pg 21): "Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu
said that China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi clarified China's
stance on Internet management and emphasized that the Internet is
open and active in China. Yang stressed that the Chinese people
enjoyed adequate freedom of speech in line with the law and have
access to various kinds of information, which is one important
reason why the Chinese people unswervingly follow the path of
socialism with Chinese characteristics. Foreign Minister Yang noted
earlier that to promoting the development of the Internet is a
consistent policy. China has its own national conditions and
cultural traditions. China's management of the Internet adheres to
the law and is in line with common practice in the world. China has
been one of the world's major victims of hacker attacks. China
stands for closer international cooperation to jointly crack down on
Internet hacking, protecting citizens' privacy according to the law
and safeguarding network security."

HUNTSMAN