VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #4174 3560434
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 220434Z DEC 06
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3518
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 6122
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 7352

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 004174 
 
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 
 
 
Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused their 
coverage December 22 on the second trial hearing for the 
Presidential Office Allowance for State Affairs case, and on other 
local political issues.  All papers reported that First Lady Wu 
Shu-chen is unlikely to appear in court today due to poor health. 
In terms of editorials, most papers continued to focus on local 
politics.  An editorial in the limited-circulation, 
pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News," however, discussed 
an article entitled "Taiwan's Independence," which was published 
recently on a website hosted by two left-wing U.S. think tanks.  The 
editorial said the article "offers at least a glimmer of hope that 
at least some foreign policy analysts in the U.S. left realize that 
the key to lasting peace and progress in the Taiwan Strait and East 
Asia does not lie in helping Beijing annex a democratic Taiwan but 
in 'educating' the PRC leadership away from outdated and rigid 
'Sinocentric' myths."  End summary. 
 
"U.S. Left Discovers Justice for Taiwan" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation: 
20,000] editorialized (12/22): 
 
"During the past two years, there have been numerous signs that the 
tide in foreign policy and East Asian policy and academic circles in 
the United States had been swinging in favor of the Chinese 
Communist Party-ruled People's Republic of China and against the 
possibility of 'Taiwan independence' or self-determination. ...  It 
is therefore significant that a whiff of fresh air has appeared in 
an unexpected quarter, namely from the Web site 'Foreign Policy in 
Focus' (www.fpif.org) hosted by two U.S. left-wing think tanks, the 
Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies and the New 
Mexico-based International Resources Center.  On December 20, the 
FPIF Web site posted an article entitled 'Taiwan's Independence' by 
Ian Williams, a frequent contributor to WPIF Web site and the United 
Nations correspondent for 'The Nation' weekly, the oldest and 
arguably most influential publication on the U.S. left. ... 
William's article is a notable exception as it sketches the outlines 
for a progressive position on the Taiwan Strait conundrum that puts 
priority on protecting an independent and democratic Taiwan. ... 
 
"For those in the U.S. left who take values such as democracy, 
social justice, peace and opposition to U.S. militarism seriously, 
the Taiwan Strait question poses numerous dilemmas since it features 
a threatening authoritarian but formerly admired 'socialist' PRC 
regime against a democratic Taiwan, which was seen as a pariah U.S. 
client state during the KMT era.  Now, Taiwan poses one of the few 
cases in which the military and diplomatic might of the United 
States is supporting the continued existence of a genuine 
'center-left' democracy instead of dictatorships or monarchies.  The 
FPIC [sic] article offers at least a glimmer of hope that at least 
some foreign policy analysts in the U.S. left realize that the key 
to lasting peace and progress in the Taiwan Strait and East Asia 
does not lie in helping Beijing annex a democratic Taiwan but in 
'educating' the PRC leadership away from outdated and rigid 
'Sinocentric' myths.  In our view, a progressive position would be 
to urge Beijing to acknowledge the reality of Taiwan's independence 
and working out a new relationship with Taiwan as an equal state and 
as a future ally and friend instead of a target of annexation and 
thus a foe." 
 
WANG