VZCZCXYZ0005
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #2626/01 2160749
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 040749Z AUG 06
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1426
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5514
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 6724

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 002626 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD - SCOTT WALKER 
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: CROSS-STRAIT TRADE 
 
 
¶1. Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies gave significant 
coverage August 4 to a Supreme Administrative Court ruling Thursday, 
which voided a controversial partnership between the Ministry of 
Transportation and Communications and a local company on the 
operation of the highway electronic toll collection system.  News 
coverage also focused on Premier Su Tseng-chang's clarification of 
his 'revisionist line,' and President Chen Shui-bian's continued 
efforts to clarify the details of the Presidential Office's special 
state affairs expense account.  The pro-unification "United Daily 
News" ran a banner headline on page four that read "Fixing Su's 
Revisionist Line?  Bian Determines Cross-Strait Trade and Economic 
[Policy]."  The pro-status quo "China Times," on the other hand, 
front-paged an exclusive story about a possible reshuffle of the 
Cabinet's economic and financial chiefs. 
 
Most papers also reported in inside pages remarks by Deputy 
Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Christensen Thursday before the 
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.  Christensen 
said the U.S. views the possible visit by China's Taiwan Affairs 
Council Director Chen Yunlin to Taiwan as a positive development and 
will continue to urge China to engage in direct dialogue with 
Taiwan's duly-elected leaders. 
 
¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, an editorial in the 
pro-independence "Liberty Times," Taiwan's biggest daily, urged 
Premier Su to use concrete action to strive for the sustainable 
development of Taiwan's economy.  An editorial in the 
limited-circulation, pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan 
News" also praised Su for holding his line on the ceiling on 
investments in China.  End summary. 
 
A) "Premier Su Should Use Concrete Action to Strive for Sustainable 
Development of Taiwan's Economy" 
 
The pro-independence "Liberty Times" [circulation: 600,000] 
editorialized (8/4): 
 
"... Indeed, people in Taiwan are basically divided into two rival 
camps:  the pro-China one and the nativist one.  The former camp 
calls for complete leaning toward and opening to China, viewing the 
Chinese market as the only place on which Taiwan's future hinges, 
while the other camp sticks to the 'Taiwan first' idea and the 
nativist line, and pushes for sustainable development of Taiwan's 
economy, in order to consolidate nativist values and Taiwan-centered 
consciousness.  The two camps have completely different thoughts 
about Taiwan's future.  Some people have labeled the nativist line 
as fundamentalist, meaning that they determine economic affairs with 
their ideology, whereas the pro-China camp was described as 
pragmatic, as if these people use reason to think about cross-Strait 
relations.  But the truth is just the opposite.  Since cross-Strait 
economics is essential to Taiwan's survival, the nativist camp -- 
which wants to ensure Taiwan's survival and development and is 
undeceived by the myth of the Chinese market -- is the real 
pragmatist.  The pro-China camp, which indulges in wishful thinking 
about China and totally disregards China's threats to Taiwan's 
survival ... is actually the authentic fundamentalist. ...  Luckily, 
Premier Su also understands the ill intentions of the pro-China 
media and the negative impact of the 'Su revisionist line.'  Premier 
Su should thus not only orally reiterate his insistence on the 
'Proactive Management' policy, but also use concrete action to 
manifest the nativist line.  Only by doing so can he remove other 
people's doubts and set a solid foundation for the sustainable 
development of Taiwan's economy." 
 
B) "Su Merits Praise for Holding Line on PRC Ceiling" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation: 
20,000] editorialized (8/4): 
 
"We strongly approve of Wednesday's decision by Premier Su 
Tseng-chang that the Democratic Progressive Party-led Cabinet will 
 
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not lift the so-called 'ceiling' on foreign investment by Taiwan 
publicly listed companies into the hostile People's Republic of 
China. ...  As was entirely predictable, business calls for a 
lifting of the investment ceiling, which really benefits only large 
scale Taiwan conglomerates, and immediate direct air passenger links 
with the PRC were met with intense opposition from delegates 
representing labor, social welfare groups, environmentalists and 
many lawmakers from the pan-green Taiwan Solidarity Union and the 
DPP itself. ... 
 
"We also urge business leaders and their media spokespersons to 
abandon 'semantic games,' such as the convoluted claim that the DPP 
administration should lift the ceiling because a ban on such a move 
did not receive 'consensus' support.  The best way that proponents 
can build support for a lifting of the ceiling is to comply with the 
consensus of the 'global deployment and cross-strait economics' 
section of the conference on the construction of a genuinely 
effective risk management mechanism and show in action their 
willingness to 'invest in Taiwan first' without demanding that 
Taiwan society reduce our standards of wages, environmental 
protection or the human and civic rights of domestic and foreign 
labor in exchange." 
 
YOUNG