VZCZCXYZ0017
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #0725/01 0670818
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 080818Z MAR 06
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8923
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 4816
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 6014

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000725 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD - ERIC 
BARBORIAK 
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: CROSS-STRAIT RELATIONS 
 
 
¶1. Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies centered 
their coverage March 8 on the government's investment in 
Taiwan's high-speed rail project, the interpellation at the 
Legislative Yuan, the 27th anniversary of the death of 
Taiwan democracy pioneer Lei Chen, and other political 
issues.  The pro-unification "United Daily News" ran an 
exclusive news story on its front page that quoted U.S. 
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner as 
saying Taiwan's decision to cease the functioning of the 
National Unification Council (NUC) was a mistake; he added 
that he is not sure whether the United States will still 
come to Taiwan's aid under these conditions.  The newspaper 
also carried a news story on its page four with the 
headline: "The United States Is Still Waiting for Bian to 
Clarify That `The NUC Still Exists.'"  The sub-headline 
added: "No Matter Whether the VOA Report Is Incorrect Or 
Not, a Senior State Department Official [Said]: It Is of 
Great Importance That There Should Be No Ambiguity [with 
Regard to Chen's Public Announcement]."  The pro- 
independence "Liberty Times," Taiwan's biggest daily, 
carried a similar news story on its page two with the 
headline: "The United States Requests That Taiwan Clarify 
Its Announcement on the Cessation of the NUC and NUG." 
 
¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, the "Free Talk" 
column in the "Liberty Times" criticized the pan-Blue camp 
for being spineless for hurrying to recall President Chen 
because of the cessation of NUC functioning while 
overlooking China's attempt to annex Taiwan.  An editorial 
in the pro-independence "Taiwan Daily" hailed Chen's 
decision about the NUC and refuted Beijing's claim that 
"Taiwan is an indivisible sacred territory of China."  A 
commentary in the limited-circulation, conservative, pro- 
unification, English-language "China Post" predicted that 
Chen would take additional steps during his remaining time 
in office to upset Washington and Beijing while claiming 
that nothing has changed.  End summary. 
 
A) "Spineless Animal" 
 
The "Free Talk" column in the pro-independence "Liberty 
Times" [circulation: 600,000] noted (3/8): 
 
". The `cessation of the National Unification Council (NUC) 
and National Unification Guidelines (NUG)' is Taiwan's 
domestic affair.  [President Chen] gave the right of 
democracy back to the Taiwan people by ceasing [the 
functioning and application] of the dormant NUC and NUG, and 
the move had nothing to do with changing [Taiwan's] 
sovereignty, national title or national flag.  But the pan- 
Blue camp got desperate [by Chen's move]; it rushed to file 
a motion to recall and impeach the president and also to 
launch a big demonstration [to protest Chen's announcement]. 
 
"Taiwan is an independent sovereign state and its national 
title now is the Republic of China (ROC).  But the People's 
Republic of China (PRC) unilaterally regards Taiwan as part 
of its territory.  It a plain fact that [the PRC wants to] 
annex and invade [Taiwan] in an attempt to terminate and 
destroy the ROC.  The `cessation of the NUC and NUG' is a 
small matter, while the [attempt to] `terminate' the ROC is 
something humongous [that deserves to be treated seriously]! 
The pan-Blue camp, which claimed repeatedly that it would 
stand to safeguard the ROC, has now turned into a spineless 
animal and servile sycophant to China when the PRC declared 
that it wants to terminate the ROC!  [We] must never put 
Taiwan's future into the hands of this spineless political 
animal, or it will surely bury the sovereignty and dignity 
of the ROC and Taiwan's democracy and freedom!" 
 
B) "Taiwan Is Our Land and by No Means an Indivisible Sacred 
Territory of China!" 
 
The pro-independence "Taiwan Daily" [circulation: 100,000] 
editorialized (3/8): 
 
". The `one China' concept has been popular from the 
twentieth century to the twenty-first century, and the PRC 
`firmly believes' that it possesses Taiwan's sovereignty. 
The ROC, in the meantime, has even greater ambitions - it 
included Taiwan, the PRC, and the Republic of Mongolia all 
into its territory.  This is an over-century-old joke, but 
the less amusing part about it was that not only China 
believes firmly in this . joke that deceives itself and 
others, but the pan-Blue camp in Taiwan also sees it as a 
banner [i.e. rallying point]. .  President Chen's 
announcement to `cease the NUC and NUG' was exactly aimed at 
cutting off the paradoxical `one China' somniloquy, 
 
correcting the distorted situation, making Taiwan's position 
in line with the reality and relevant laws, and putting [the 
right] to determine Taiwan's future back to the hands of its 
residents by upholding the [principles of] democracy and 
freedom. This is because Taiwan has always been the sacred 
territory of the Taiwan people; it has never been an 
indivisible sacred part of China!" 
 
C) "When Is a Change not a Change?" 
 
Frank Ching opined in the conservative, pro-unification, 
English-language "China Post" [circulation: 30,000] (3/8): 
 
". Why is Mr. Chen [Shui-bian] doing this when the council 
[i.e. NUC] and guidelines [i.e. NUG] existed only paper 
anyway, especially when doing so risked alienating his main 
supporter, the United States?  The answer seems to be that 
the president, with two years of his term left, does not 
want to be rendered irrelevant.  His popularity had sunk in 
December to a historical low of around 10%, and Mr. Chen, by 
taking this action, is regaining the support of hard-core 
pro-independence voters. . 
 
"No doubt, in the next two years, Mr. Chen will take 
additional steps that will make both his enemies in Beijing 
and his supporters in Washington feel decidedly 
uncomfortable.  And he may well claim while doing so that 
nothing had changed." 
 
KEEGAN