VZCZCXYZ0022
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #3395/01 2760652
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 030652Z OCT 06
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2419
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5733
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 6945

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 003395 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD - DAVID FIRESTEIN 
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-TAIWAN RELATIONS, PRESIDENT CHEN 
SHUI-BIAN'S COMMENT ON CONSITUTIONAL REFORM 
 
 
¶1.  Summary: Taiwan dailies (October 3) focused on the Taipei 
District Prosecutor's Office decision to close the Sogo Department 
Store Ownership case on Monday without indicting First Lady Wu 
Shu-chen.  Taiwan dailies also focused on the casualties suffered by 
mainland Chinese tourists when their bus plunged off a mountain road 
into a vineyard in Central Taiwan on Monday night. 
 
¶2.  In terms of editorials and commentaries, an op-ed article in the 
pro-status quo "China Times" said the United States, in order to 
preserve its national interests, will not let President Chen 
Shui-bian unilaterally change the status quo.  An opinion piece in 
the pro-unification "United Daily News" said remarks by the U.S. 
State Department toward President Chen have left no leeway and are 
akin to humiliation.  The editorial in the conservative, 
pro-unification, English-language "China Post" said that pushing for 
constitutional reform is an old trick for President Chen to attract 
fundamentalists and added that a defeat in the Kaohsiung mayoral 
election in 2006 will certainly be a blow to President Chen and the 
DPP.  End summary. 
 
¶3.  U.S.-TAIWAN RELATIONS 
 
"A-Bian's New Constitution Incident in the Eyes of the United 
States" 
 
Chen I-shin, professor of Graduate Institute of American Studies at 
Tamkang University, opined in the pro-status quo "China Times" 
[circulation: 400,000] (10/03) that: 
 
"Assistant Secretary of State for Asian and Pacific Affairs, Thomas 
Christensen, held a closed-door meeting in late September in 
Washington D.C.  Participants in the meeting included officials of 
the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and 
AIT Director Stephen Young, who returned to D.C. on September 22 to 
attend a meeting with U.S. ambassadors posted in East Asia. 
According to media reports, there were two sides in the meeting: one 
side advocated ignoring Chen Shui-bian's plan to push for a new 
Constitution; and the other, hawkish side proposed to quash it.  The 
result was that the hawkish side got the upper hand.  In fact, from 
the Bush Administration's recent appointments of new personnel to 
implement its China policy and active U.S.-China relations, we can 
see that the United States will definitely not allow Taiwan to 
change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait unilaterally.  ... 
 
"... What makes people curious is [AIT Director] Stephen Young's 
position in this debate.  Although he is not optimistic about the 
red-clad Anti-Bian Action, yet from my perspective he can only have 
a personal preference. As a U.S. official, he must act according to 
the U.S. national interests and may not have his own position.  No 
matter how Stephen Young looks at President Chen Shui-bian's new 
Constitution incident, he is looking at the question from the 
perspective of U.S. interests." 
 
¶4. President Chen Shui-bian's Comment on Constitutional Reform 
 
A) "Four Worries ... the United States Has Left no Leeway" 
 
Loh I-cheng, a retired diplomat wrote in an op-ed article in the 
pro-Unification "United Daily News" [circulation: 400,000] (10/03) 
that: 
 
"... U.S. Department of State Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey's remarks 
on September 25 only consist of a few short sentences, and they seem 
to have nothing new in them when one first hears them.  Actually, 
very serious warnings are hidden inside the diplomatic language.  I 
really consider it the most serious U.S. remarks toward Taiwan over 
the past six years.  In addition to reiterations such as "the United 
States does not support independence for Taiwan" and "the United 
States continues to be opposed to unilateral changes in the status 
quo by either side," there are four new worries about A-Bian's 
personal capabilities. 
 
"What are these worries?  The original text in English is : 'the 
fulfillment of President Chen's commitments is a test of his 
leadership as well as his ability to protect Taiwan's interests, its 
relations with others and to maintain peace and stability in the 
Straits.' 
 
"... In the past, even during [the holding of a] referendum and 
disputes about abolishing the National Unification Council, the 
United States has never questioned A-Bian so harshly.  Casey's 
conclusion is simple: the United States will remember A-Bian's 
'repeated promises' and 'expect him to carry them out.'  There is no 
leeway to bargain. 
 
"Spokesman Sean McCormack condensed Casey's remarks as 'President 
Chen's fulfillment of his commitments will be a test of leadership, 
dependability and statesmanship.'  To 'test' the leadership of 
 
another country's head in diplomatic remarks is equal to saying that 
his/her leadership is not that trustworthy.  It has left no leeway, 
almost to the extent of humiliation." 
 
B) "Chen vs. His Party, People" 
 
The conservative, pro-unification, English-language "China Post" 
[circulation: 30,000] editorialized (10/03): 
 
"... The U.S., Taiwan's mentor and protector, has openly put Chen to 
a 'test' of his 'leadership, dependability and statesmanship' to 
fulfill his repeated commitments not to unilaterally change the 
status quo. 
 
"At rallies marking the DPP's birthday, Chen ,defying warnings from 
both Washington and Beijing against any move to change the island's 
Constitution and alter its territorial definitions, reiterated his 
'impossible missions' to push for a new charter as well as U.N. 
membership under the name of 'Taiwan.' 
 
"Chen's China-provoking rhetoric was an obvious attempt to please 
fundamentalist pro-independence voters, who account for only 20 
percent of the population. 
 
"The DPP has no major achievements to speak of and no other cards to 
play except the old trick of raising tensions in the Taiwan Strait. 
It has to rely on its core pro-independence voters for support in 
the December mayoral polls for Taipei and Kaohsiung.  A defeat in 
the southern stronghold would deal a crushing blow to both Chen and 
the ruling party. ..." 
 
WANG