VZCZCXYZ0004
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #0890/01 0760914
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 170914Z MAR 06
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9154
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 4889
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 6085

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000890 
 
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 AND U.S. 
 
 
¶1. Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies continued to 
focus their coverage March 17 on the freeway electronic toll 
collection system scandal, the year-end Taipei mayoral race, the 
rally planned by the DPP for March 18, and other local issues.  The 
pro-independence "Liberty Times," Taiwan's biggest daily, quoted 
U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Rodman in a 
banner-headline news story on its page two that read: "U.S. 
Official: China's Military Expansion Alters the Status Quo Across 
the Taiwan Strait."  The pro-status quo "China Times" ran a news 
story on its page four with the headline: "[DPP Chairman] Yu 
Shyi-kun Changes His Remarks: the Constitutional Reforms Will Not 
Touch on [Taiwan's] National Flag and Title."  The pro-unification 
"United Daily News," on the other hand, carried a news story on its 
page four with the headline: "If the Congress Blocks a 
Constitutional Amendment Proposal, [the DPP Administration] Will 
Hold a Referendum on 'Certain Specific Principles.'"  The 
sub-headline added: "The DPP and the Government Meet to Work out a 
Timeline [for Taiwan's Constitutional Reforms]; the Two Ways [to 
Push for Constitutional Reforms] - via the Congress and via the 
Referendum - Will 'Not Contradict Each Other.'  [High-ranking 
Officials] Decline to Indicate Clearly Whether the Referendum Will 
Involve [Taiwan's] Official Title and National Flag." 
 
¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, a "Liberty Times" 
editorial said it hopes that the "Three Party Security Dialogue" 
between the United States, Australia, and Japan, scheduled to start 
tomorrow, will alert the Taiwan people about China's aggressive 
nature.  Washington correspondent James Wang said in the "Washington 
Review" column of the pro-independence "Taiwan Daily" that Beijing 
now sees opposition to 'de jure Taiwan independence' as its most 
urgent and important task.  Nat Bellocchi, former AIT chairman and 
now a special adviser to the Liberty Times Group, opined in the 
limited-circulation, pro-independence, English-language "Taipei 
Times" that the debate in Taiwan and Washington on President Chen 
Shui-bian's decision to cease the functions of the National 
Unification Council (NUC) and the application of the National 
Unification Guidelines (NUG) may be setting the tone for future 
cross-Strait politics.  An editorial in the limited-circulation, 
pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" discussed the DPP's 
planned rally for March 18 and said "The greatest danger to our 
autonomy lies in ignorance abroad about Taiwan's plight and apathy 
at home among many of our own people who do not sufficiently 
appreciate or cherish our hard-won right to choose our own road." 
End summary. 
 
A) "Taiwan People Lack Required Vigilance Against China's Aggressive 
Nature" 
 
The pro-independence "Liberty Time" [circulation: 600,000] 
editorialized (3/17): 
 
"... The entire world is concerned about China's non-peaceful rise, 
while Taiwan, the first to bear the brunt of China's [non-peaceful 
rise], appears indifferent to China's military expansion.  For one 
thing, the pan-Blue camp has more than once blocked the [U.S.] arms 
procurement bill [in the Legislative Yuan], hindering Taiwan from 
building effective defense deterrence capabilities and paying no 
attention at all to the lives, properties and safety of the 23 
million people of Taiwan.  Also, according to a poll survey released 
by the Institute for National Policy Research, more than 30 percent 
of the respondents said they have no idea that China is an 
undemocratic country.  This is really unbelievable.  In other words, 
some Taiwan people are unaware of the threats posed by a 
totalitarian regime to their democracy.  They also lack sufficient 
vigilance of, or countermeasures against, the [potential] dangers of 
China's attack against Taiwan, triggered by the Chinese leaders' 
moves to ignite the nationalistic sentiments of its people.  This 
newspaper therefore hopes that the 'Three Party Security Dialogue' 
that will be held by the United States, Australia, and Japan 
tomorrow will alert the Taiwan people to pay attention to the crisis 
of Taiwan's survival and pass the [U.S.] arms procurement bill as 
early as possible.  Taiwan needs to strengthen its national defense 
and vigilance so as to effectively deal with the threats posed by 
China's non-peaceful rise." 
 
B) "Beijing Upgrades Its [Official] Level But Softens Its Tone When 
Responding to [Taiwan's] 'Cessation of the National Unification 
Council and National Unification Guidelines'" 
 
Washington correspondent James Wang said in the "Washington Review" 
column in the pro-independence "Taiwan Daily" [circulation: 100,000] 
(3/17): 
 
"... Chen Shui-bian's announcement to 'cease the functions of the 
NUC and application of the NUG' was in reality a decision that put 
Taiwan back on a democratic track.  Taiwan will not regard union 
with China as its only option [for the future] and will not accept 
'unification' as its predetermined destination.  Such a development 
will have a great impact on the international community, especially 
on the United States' false 'one China' policy, and this will be the 
international ramification that China is most concerned about. 
Thus, in response, Beijing pulled out the 'one China' principle that 
it had forced the international society to accept and accused Chen's 
'cessation of the NUC and NUG' as 'a serious provocation against the 
internationally acknowledged one-China principle and cross-Strait 
peace.' 
 
"Beijing's [current] strategy is to move its line of defense a 
little bit backwards and look at Taiwan as de facto independent. 
What it wants to prevent is 'de jure Taiwan independence.' 
Beijing's new defense line is to define Taiwan's constitutional 
reforms as 'de jure independence' and it will take the opposition to 
'de jure Taiwan independence' as its most urgent and important task. 
..." 
 
C) "Taiwan-US Ties: All Politics Is Local" 
 
Nat Bellocchi, former AIT chairman and now a special adviser to the 
Liberty Times Group, opined in the pro-independence, 
English-language "Taipei Times" [circulation: 30,000] (3/17): 
 
"... The issue of 'ceasing' the National Unification Council and 
guidelines seems to have blown over, but some differences of opinion 
- most likely resulting from domestic politics in both Washington 
and Taipei - continued to be debated.  This debate may be setting 
the tone for future cross-strait politics. ... 
 
"The US needs to find a way of maintaining its interests in East 
Asia in the face of China's expansion, both in the region and 
internationally.  The US' relationship with China will inevitably be 
an important factor in cross-strait issues.  At the same time, the 
US will need to keep abreast of political changes in Taiwan's 
relatively young democracy." 
 
D) "Let the World Hear Taiwan's Voice" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation: 
20,000] editorialized (3/17): 
 
"... Numerous opinion polls show that the majority of our people 
generally grasp what is really at stake.  For example, a poll of 
1,072 Taiwanese released Wednesday by the Institute for National 
Policy Research showed that 83.1 percent think 'the government 
cannot decide on its own whether on unification or independence 
without the approval of the people,' with only 5.6 percent 
disagreeing.  Nearly 66 percent rejected the claim by Beijing that 
'Taiwan is a province of the People's Republic of China,' while 9.5 
percent agreeing with it.  The fact that these majority findings 
cross political boundaries demonstrates the spread of the value of 
'democratic self-determination' among Taiwanese.  This result also 
offers the most salient and potent rebuttal of any arguments by 
either the United States or the KMT for the retention of the 
misbegotten National Unification Council and its undemocratic 
National Unification Guidelines, which were single-handedly created 
by the KMT in the early 1990s. ... 
 
"Indeed the INPR poll, and other similar previous surveys, indicates 
a high sense of anxiety over whether the current nature of 
cross-strait economic interaction is truly beneficial to the welfare 
of most of the Taiwan people and our democratic way of life. ... The 
greatest danger to our autonomy lies in ignorance abroad about 
Taiwan's plight and apathy at home among many of our own people who 
do not sufficiently appreciate or cherish our hard-won right to 
choose our own road. ..." 
 
KEEGAN