VZCZCXYZ0016
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #3921/01 3252234
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 212234Z NOV 06
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3131
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5975
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 7191

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 003921 
 
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: APEC 
 
 
¶1. Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies continued to 
focus their coverage November 21 on Taichung Mayor Jason Hu's wife, 
who is in a critical condition following a serious car accident last 
Saturday.  News coverage also focused on Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's 
alleged misuse of the special mayoral allowance; on the KMT's 
ill-gotten assets; and on the upcoming Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral 
races.  A "United Daily News" survey showed that in the wake of the 
controversy over Ma's special mayoral allowance, public support for 
Hau Lung-pin, the KMT mayoral candidate for Taipei, has dropped from 
44 percent to 42 percent, while support for DPP mayoral candidate 
Frank Hsieh rose from 15 percent to 20 percent.  The same poll also 
found that public support for Huang Chun-ying, the KMT mayoral 
candidate for Kaohsiung, remains at 39 percent, while support for 
DPP mayoral candidate Chen Chu rose from 24 percent to 26 percent. 
 
¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, an editorial in the 
pro-status quo "China Times" urged Taiwan to face and ponder its 
current situation in the Asia-Pacific region pragmatically.  An 
editorial in the limited-circulation, pro-independence, 
English-language "Taiwan News" called on the Taiwan authorities to 
work on maintaining a sustainable partnership with the current U.S. 
administration while reinforcing dialogue and traditional support 
from the Democrat-controlled Congress.  End summary. 
 
A) "Taiwan Should Pragmatically Face Its Situation in the 
Asia-Pacific Region" 
 
The pro-status quo "China Times" [circulation: 400,000] 
editorialized (11/21): 
 
"... Indeed, judging from its content, the 'Hanoi Declaration' 
issued at this year's APEC annual meeting was of more symbolic 
meaning than of substantive importance. ...  This year's [APEC] 
declaration was in reality not too different from the ones issued in 
the past few years in terms of content, so it proved that when it 
comes to trade and economic issues, the APEC annual meeting is 
indeed a forum in which dialogue outweighs everything else.  But 
this does not mean that the APEC annual meeting is no longer 
important; on the contrary, since all leaders [of the member 
countries] participate in the [APEC] annual meeting every year, it 
naturally constitutes a perfect occasion for a leaders' summit. 
Each year, leaders of various nations, on top of the summit, arrange 
additional bilateral or multilateral meetings on issues such as 
politics, economics and security.  The importance of these 
additional meetings often far exceeds that of the theme of APEC that 
year. ... 
 
"Perhaps the APEC will issue a perfunctory declaration each year, 
but more and more moves have been taken by the member nations to 
engage in trade and economic interaction and integration using the 
APEC meeting.  Chinese President Hu Jintao will visit India 
immediately after the conclusion of the APEC meeting to test the 
possibility of signing a bilateral free trade agreement in an 
attempt to form the so-called huge 'Himalayan economic zone.'  The 
move has immediately caused anxiety on the part of South Korea and 
Japan, which fear that they will be excluded from the zone.  In 
other words, the situation in the Asia-Pacific region is changing 
every day, and it seems that only Taiwan remains completely 
insensitive to the situation it is in." 
 
B) "Bush's Messages and U.S.-Taiwan Ties" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation: 
20,000] editorialized (11/21): 
 
"... In Hanoi, Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 
emphasized the significance for the U.S. to strengthen partnerships 
with Asian allies to tackle regional challenges associated with 
international terrorism, avian flu and the festering nuclear crisis 
in the Korean Peninsula.  Rice's explicit and aggressive support for 
APEC and the emergence of a 'true Asia-Pacific Economic Community' 
clearly aimed to counter notions that the Democrats new majorities 
in both houses of the U.S. Congress would hamstring the right-wing 
Bush administration during the last two years of his second and last 
term.  Ironically, the shift also marked at least a partial 
reaffirmation of multilateralism after six years of Bush 
unilateralism. ... 
 
"More substantially, the failure of Taiwan's proposed procurement of 
three advanced defensive weapons systems approved by Bush in April 
2001 to escape from the irrational boycott by KMT and PFP 
legislators has deepened concerns in Washington that Taipei is not 
willing to take more responsibility for its self-defense and has 
severely damaged the usually firm U.S. congressional support for 
Taiwan.  In the wake of these trends and the November 7 mid-term 
elections, the top priority of the Taiwan government must be to work 
on maintaining a sustainable partnership with the current U.S. 
administration while reinforcing dialogue and traditional support 
from the Democratic Party-controlled Congress for Taiwan's 
democracy. 
 
"Continued democratic consolidation and political reforms are 
Taiwan's greatest assets compared with the PRC's authoritarian rule 
and its increasingly military and diplomatic belligerence.  Taiwan 
should therefore strive to secure a status as a partner with the 
United States to promote 'bottom-up' grassroots democracy in other 
Asian nations. ...  At the same time, Washington, including the Bush 
administration and the incoming Democratic Congress, should 
encourage Taiwan's striving for good governance and political 
institutionalization as a solid basis for a sustainable relationship 
and assist Taiwan in joining the international community of 
democracies, instead of calling on Taiwan to sacrifice its 
democratic deepening in order to appease Beijing. ...  The U.S. 
government needs to consider whether it will be possible to 
cultivate Beijing as a responsible stakeholder and foster Chinese 
democracy if Taiwan's full-fledged democracy cannot be safeguarded 
from the threat of PRC military expansionism." 
 
YOUNG