VZCZCXYZ0024
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #3739 3060819
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 020819Z NOV 06
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2878
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5877
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 7097

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 003739 
 
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. ARMS SALES TO TAIWAN 
 
 
¶1. Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies November 
2continued to put their focus on the prosecutors' decision Wednesday 
to detain a Financial Supervisory Commission member on the charge of 
violating the Securities Transaction Law.  News coverage also 
focused on the Legislative Yuan's review of the annual national 
defense budget Wednesday, part of which passed the National Defense 
Committee with only minor revisions; and on the investigation of the 
Presidential allowance for state affairs case.  Several papers also 
carried on inside pages a U.S. State Department statement of Tuesday 
denying that Washington has suspended military exchange programs 
with Taiwan as a retaliatory move against the Taiwan legislature's 
failure to pass the arms procurement bill. 
 
¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, an editorial in the 
pro-independence "Liberty Times," Taiwan's largest-circulation 
daily, said the controversial arms procurement bill has gradually 
turned into a surrogate battle between unification and independence 
in Taiwan.  An opinion piece in the limited-circulation, 
pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" lashed out at the 
pan-Blue camp for deliberately blocking the arms procurement bill 
and trying to sell out Taiwan.  End summary. 
 
A) "Ulterior Reasons Behind the Opposition to [U.S.] Arms 
Procurement Are Exposed" 
 
The pro-independence "Liberty Times" [circulation: 600,000] 
editorialized (11/2): 
 
"The arms procurement bill, which has been repeatedly blocked by the 
pan-Blue camp over the past few years, has in reality transformed 
gradually from [a matter of] partisan struggles and arguments over 
budget into a bellwether of the confrontation between unification 
and independence.  The latest edition of the U.S. "Defense News" 
quoted quite a few U.S. and Taiwan observers as saying that the 
controversy over U.S. arms procurements in the Legislative Yuan is 
linked to the battle between unification and independence in Taiwan. 
 The weekly even directly pointed out that the wrestling between 
pro-China and pro-independence lawmakers is eroding Washington's 
ties with Taiwan. ... 
 
"In fact, just because the reasons offered by the pan-Blue camp for 
its opposition to the arms procurement bill failed to hold water, 
the Taiwan public began to suspect that some inside stories 
reflecting ulterior motives were possibly behind the apparent 
boycotts [of the arms procurements].  The most worrisome among these 
inside stories is that perhaps the arms procurement bill is a 
surrogate battle between unification and independence.  In other 
words, the reason why the pan-Blue camp opposes the arms procurement 
bill is by no means based on its concern for whether or not the 
budget earmarked for the arms procurements is reasonable; instead, 
it is because the Blue legislators are opposed to Taiwan's 
possession of adequate national defense capability.  If [the 
pan-Blue camp] opposes extravagant arms procurements and truly 
believes that the budget has not been reasonably allocated, to avoid 
drawbacks it can have the Procedural Committee discuss the arms 
procurement budget and delete the parts that are not carefully 
allocated.  But on the contrary, the pan-Blue camp kept on 
deliberately making things difficult ... and evidently, its 
opposition to extravagant arms procurement is nothing but an excuse, 
while its true intention is to try every means it can to prevent the 
arms procurement bill from being passed.  The real reason behind the 
Blue camp's opposition to the arms procurements is evidently because 
of their pro-unification thinking. ..." 
 
B) "Pan-Blue Camp Is Selling out the Nation" 
 
Cao Changqing, a China-born freelance journalist based in the United 
States, opined in the pro-independence, English-language "Taipei 
Times" [circulation: 30,000] (11/2): 
 
"... In the face of this nearby enemy, Taiwan should naturally 
strengthen its national defense by passing the arms budget.  It 
should also call a spade a spade and view China as an enemy, as well 
as strengthen cooperation with the US military.  This is especially 
true because, as China's economy takes off, many countries are 
scared to offend Beijing because of their business interests.  In a 
situation where only the US dares to sell Taipei weapons, the ruling 
and opposition parties ought to focus on bilateral military 
relations with Washington. ... 
 
"Seeing the pan-Blue's unconcealed display of anti-US and pro-China 
sentiment leaves the onlooker baffled. ...  Is it not the KMT and 
PFP who, unhappy that Taiwanese people are in power, have 
unhesitatingly embraced the CCP, gambled with the ROC's security, 
turned their backs on the anti-communism of the two Chiangs and 
forgotten their own roots?" 
 
WANG