VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #1413/01 1140813
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 240813Z APR 06
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9848
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5107
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 6310

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001413 
 
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: U.S.-CHINA SUMMIT 
 
 
¶1. Summary: Taiwan's leading Chinese-language dailies focused their 
coverage April 22-24 on Chinese President Hu Jintao's U.S. trip and 
his meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush last Thursday; the 
controversial battle over the ownership of the Sogo Department 
Store, in which First Lady Wu Shu-chen was allegedly involved; the 
year-end Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral race; and other local 
scandals.  All papers reported in their inside pages that Taiwan 
welcomed Bush's reiteration of the U.S. commitment to cross-Strait 
peace in his talks with Hu.  The pro-independence "Liberty Times," 
Taiwan's biggest daily, ran a banner headline on its front page 
April 22 that read: "In Terms of Cross-Strait Situation, Taiwan and 
the United States Each to Start Computer War Games."  The 
pro-independence "Taiwan Daily" also ran a banner headline on its 
front page April 22 that said: "To Guard Against China, the United 
States Strengthens Its Military Buildup in the Pacific."  The 
pro-status quo "China Times," however, ran an exclusive news story 
on its page four April 24 with the headline: "U.S., Taiwan Mends 
[Mutual] Ties: [President] Chen Shui-bian, [Premier] Su Tseng Chang 
Are Expected to Transit in New York [Respectively] in May." 
 
¶2. Almost all papers editorialized on the Bush-Hu meeting April 22. 
A "Liberty Times" editorial said Hu lost both face and substantive 
benefits during his U.S. trip.  A "Taiwan Daily" editorial said the 
Bush-Hu meeting highlighted Washington's wariness of China.  An 
editorial in the limited-circulation, pro-independence, 
English-language "Taipei Times" said the Bush-Hu meeting yielded 
nothing, while an editorial in the limited-circulation, 
pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" said Taiwan's 
democratization was left out in the Bush-Hu talks.  A "China Times" 
editorial reviewed the Bush-Hu meeting from the perspective of 
global power distribution, saying Washington needs China's 
assistance on many global issues, but in the meantime, it is 
unwilling to fully recognize China's rising status.  An editorial in 
the pro-unification "United Daily News" discussed the changes and 
constants in Washington-Beijing-Taipei ties.  An editorial in the 
limited-circulation, conservative, pro-unification, English-language 
"China Post" said in the wake of Hu's U.S. trip, he is increasingly 
seen as a major player in the international arena.    End summary. 
 
A) "Hu Jintao Loses Both Superficial and Substantive Benefits During 
His U.S. Trip" 
 
The pro-independence "Liberty Times" [circulation: 600,000] 
editorialized (4/22): 
 
"... During [Chinese President] Hu Jintao's U.S. trip, his publicity 
tactics failed to help change his image, and instead, the Falun Gong 
practitioner's protest [outside the White House] turned out to be 
the focus of international media, revealing China's totalitarian 
nature.  When it comes to other substantive issues, Taiwan was 
originally not an issue that Washington was interested in talking 
about, but Bush's preemptive move to reiterate the U.S.' consistent 
position [over the Taiwan issue] made Hu's attempt to play the same 
old tune of coercing Taiwan sound relatively weak.  In terms of the 
economic issues that were of mutual concerns to both sides, Hu's 
lip-service-like responses and publicity measures could hardly 
remove the U.S. Congress' call for trade countermeasures against 
China. ...  As for other issues concerning foreign relations and 
human rights, Washington was naturally displeased with China's 
perfunctory attitude and the lack of substantive progress [of their 
talks]. ..." 
 
B) "The Bush-Hu Meeting Highlights Washington's Wariness of  China, 
But the Pan-Blue Camp Seeks to Befriend China Unilaterally in an 
Attempt to Change the Status quo" 
 
The pro-independence "Taiwan Daily" [circulation: 100,000] 
editorialized (4/22): 
 
"... China's rise in the military aspect has aroused great doubts in 
the international community, including the United States.  In 
particular, Beijing's passage of the Anti-Secession Law, which 
authorizes the use of non-peaceful means, has endangered peace 
across the Taiwan Strait.  China's recent approval of the guidelines 
for its eleventh five-year plan, in which Taiwan is defined as an 
inseparable part of the PRC's sacred territory, was also a move that 
has seriously altered the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.  The 
pan-Blue politicians and unification-aligned media in Taiwan either 
overlooked these facts or took them for granted.  Their unilateral 
tilting toward China and pro-Chinese Communist Party position in 
order to seek final unification have failed to meet the Taiwan 
people's interests and are against the international trend.  All the 
Taiwan people should unanimously condemn them." 
 
C) "Hu Jintao's Battle with Symbols" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" [circulation: 
30,000] wrote in an editorial (4/22): 
"... Hu's trip will be remembered more for symbolism than 
breakthroughs in bilateral relations, and it is instructive that the 
two powers could not even agree on the status of the visit - 
'official' or 'state' - and that Hu was not thrown a reception down 
home on Bush's Texas range. ... But, as events at the White House 
showed, until such time that professionals such as these contribute 
to the Chinese Communist Party's survival and actively craft a more 
user-friendly Chinese nationalism, Hu and his underlings will 
continue to struggle to understand how to market their image to 
anyone for whom there is more to life than cultural relativism and 
conscience-free cash." 
 
D) "Democracy Left out in Bush-Hu Talks" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation: 
20,000] commented in an editorial (4/24): 
 
"... In our view, Bush took a major step backward by not reaffirming 
the democratic position enunciated by former president William 
Clinton in February 2000 that Washington will 'continue to make 
absolutely clear that the issues between Beijing and Taiwan must be 
resolved peacefully and with the assent of the people of Taiwan.' 
Moreover, Bush failed to openly reiterate his previous call on the 
PRC leader to engage in dialogue with Taiwan's 
democratically-elected leader and government.  We believe this 
retreat from democratic values should not be ignored. 
 
"After all, the essential elements that underline a healthy and 
sustainable relationship between the United States and Taiwan must 
include shared belief in the universal values of democracy, freedom 
and human rights as well as long-term interest in cross-strait peace 
and security and mutually beneficial economic ties.  Moreover, we 
believe the triangular relationship between Taipei, Washington and 
Beijing should be analyzed in a broader context, namely how the 
world community should handle the problem of how to ensure that 'the 
rise of China' remains peaceful. 
 
"Bush used the Hu visit to send a message that his administration 
would adopt a mixed strategy of 'containment' and 'engagement' to 
turn Beijing into a 'responsible stakeholder' and cajole the PRC 
toward the road of economic liberalization and democratic opening. 
Taiwan's role as a beacon of democratization in Asia can help 
promote the values of democracy, freedom, human rights and peace in 
China and the Asia-Pacific region and can thus complement U.S. 
interests in this regard.  Our best strategy is to build a 
broad-based alliance of democracy through both official and civic 
diplomacy in the world community, including but not limited to the 
U.S., and carefully and candidly elaborate the centrality of the 
protection and deepening of democracy in Taiwan for regional and 
global peace." 
 
E) "To Review the Bush-Hu Meeting from the Perspective of Global 
Power Distribution" 
 
The pro-status quo "China Times" [circulation: 400,000] said in an 
editorial (4/22): 
 
"... It is a fact that the United States does not regard China as 
one of its allies.  But in view of China's increasing influence, 
Washington is bound to negotiate with China with regard to many 
global issues.  That is where the conflict lies. ...  The security 
talks [between Bush and Hu at the White House's Oval Office] 
concretely and subtly manifested China's importance in global 
affairs.  Washington needs China's assistance [in this aspect], but 
it felt reluctant to fully recognize China's rising position.  If 
handled inappropriately, this might be one of the sources for future 
tensions or conflicts between the two nations. 
 
"Another possible source of tensions was that China will not 
accommodate Washington's needs in every way.  For the Korean 
Peninsula [nuclear] issue, China's influence on Pyongyang may be far 
greater that the world can imagine, but the influence that Beijing 
is willing to exert on North Korea may be much smaller than anyone 
can imagine.  As for Iran, in addition to China's own energy 
interests, Beijing basically does not think that Washington's 
current policy to put pressure on Iran is a correct one. ..." 
 
F) "Bush-Hu Meeting: Changes and Constants in the 
Washington-Beijing-Taipei Ties" 
 
The pro-unification "United Daily News" [circulation: 400,000] 
commented in an editorial (4/22): 
 
"It is more than clear that over the past few years, the Taiwan 
authorities have been trying everything it can to seek to change 
cross-Strait relations; from denying the '1992 Consensus' to 
'scrapping the National Unification Council,' [the DPP government] 
has made consistent attempts to change the status quo across the 
Taiwan Strait.  But the first issue that was set tune during the 
Bush-Hu meeting was that the cross-Strait status quo must remain 
unchanged, and only when based on such an 'unchanged' basis can both 
sides talk about other issues. ... 
 
"... The Chen Shui-bian administration easily simplified all its 
problems into China's deployment of hundreds of missiles along its 
coast, and it failed to pay attention to the real situation that 
cross-Strait relations are bound to be restrained by the triangular 
structure of Washington-Beijing-Taipei ties. ... If the Chen 
Shui-bian administration continues to act rashly and step on the 
'unchanged' bottom line of the Washington-Beijing-Taipei relations, 
the consequences that will affect Taiwan's interests will be bounced 
back to Taiwan one by one. ..." 
 
G) " A Different Hu Jintao" 
 
The conservative, pro-unification, English-language "China Post" 
[circulation: 30,000] editorialized (4/22): 
 
"... Behind Hu's smiling face lies a new strategy of wooing the 
American people and the business community.  This smiling-face 
diplomacy may dispel the miasma of xenophobia spread by many in 
Congress who view China as a threat to American dominance in the 
world.  That's why Hu Jintao is eager to convince his American 
counterpart, George W. Bush, that Beijing's 'peaceful development' 
poses no threat to U.S. interests, and China has neither the 
intention nor the capability to compete with the United States for 
world domination. .. While it is too early to assess the gains or 
losses of Hu's first official visit to the United States since 
becoming president in 2003, one thing is clear.  Hu's image is 
getting a boost, so is his prestige at home.  He is increasingly 
seen as a major player in the international arena. ..." 
 
YOUNG