VZCZCXYZ0016
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #4084 3420915
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 080915Z DEC 06
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3385
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 6068
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 7292

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 004084 
 
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: TAIWAN'S POLITICAL SITUATION, U.S.-TAIWAN 
RELATIONS 
 
 
¶1. Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused their 
coverage December 8 on Taiwan's winning the third gold medal in the 
Asian Games in Doha Thursday; and on the Taipei and Kaohsiung 
mayoral elections, which are slated for Saturday, December 9.  The 
pro-independence "Liberty Times," Taiwan's largest-circulation 
daily, ran a banner headline on page four that said "Regardless of 
[Mayoral] Election Outcomes, Bian Wants Premier Su to Stay on in His 
Current Position."  In terms of editorials and commentaries, an 
editorial in the pro-unification "United Daily News" discussed 
tomorrow's elections, calling them a chance for the light-Green 
voters to make a choice between the "pro-Bian line" and the 
"Non-Bian line."  An editorial in the limited-circulation, 
pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times," on the other 
hand, discussed a plan by the Washington-based Formosan Association 
for Public Affairs (FAPA) to campaign to have future AIT Taipei 
directors go through the full, formal Senate confirmation process. 
The article expressed disapproval of such a plan and said "Taiwan 
gains nothing by appearing to be the one who is destabilizing the 
situation."  End summary. 
 
¶2. Taiwan's Political Situation 
 
"Will the DPP Be Able to Jump out of the 'Chen Shui-bian Vortex'?" 
 
The pro-unification "United Daily News" [circulation: 400,000] 
editorialized (12/8): 
 
"People will cast votes tomorrow.  Some people called tomorrow's 
elections a vote of confidence for Chen Shui-bian and Ma Ying-jeou. 
But such a statement seems to have underestimated and oversimplified 
the significance of the elections.  As a matter of fact, Saturday's 
elections are not merely a 'race between the Blue and the Green 
camps,' namely, an opportunity for the voters to pick their side 
from the two political labels:  Ma and Chen.  Instead, the 
light-Green voters, who are exasperated at the DPP's failure really 
to achieve anything, will have to make a choice between the 
'pro-Bian line' and the 'non-Bian line.' ... 
 
"Chen's corruption scandals have almost become the only agenda for 
this year's Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral elections.  But this is 
just a facade.  The real problem lies in the fact that over the past 
decade, particularly the six-and-a-half-year reign of Chen, Taiwan 
is facing a split national identity, collapsed constitutional 
system, deteriorating cross-Strait relations, dismantled mutual 
trust between Taiwan and the United States, confounded right and 
wrong in society, the island's marginalization, an opaque economic 
situation, and suffering of the people -- it is as if the entire 
nation and society have sunk into a dirty, muddy vortex that gets 
people nowhere.  Will Taiwan be able to jump out of the vortex after 
the elections?" 
 
¶3. U.S.-Taiwan Relations 
 
"FAPA's Misguided Pie in the Sky" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" [circulation: 
30,000] editorialized (12/8): 
 
"... The Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), an 
influential pro-independence lobby in the US, has announced that it 
is starting a campaign to make the directors of the American 
Institute in Taiwan (AIT) - the de facto US embassy - go through 
confirmation hearings in the US Senate.  To examine this idea, we 
must set aside reality, after elucidating what that reality is: 
FAPA's campaign has no chance of success. ... 
 
"If the AIT director had to go through a Senate confirmation 
hearing, he would enjoy all of the prestige and glory that comes 
with having one's personal history ripped to shreds for partisan 
blood sport, as 'real' ambassadors do.  How wonderful.  More to the 
point, it would also mean that the pro-China lobby would have a 
voice in determining who conducted diplomacy with Taiwan.  How does 
that help anyone?  Taiwan is pretty lucky to have a real diplomat - 
AIT Director Stephen Young - as it is.  Most countries get saddled 
with political cronies whose qualifications are determined by how 
much money they donated to the US president's campaign fund.  Taiwan 
gains nothing by appearing to be the one who is destabilizing the 
situation.  The country's power and influence come from holding the 
moral high ground, not undermining it." 
 
YOUNG