VZCZCXYZ0003
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #0997/01 1222217
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 022217Z MAY 07
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5122
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 6706
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 7955

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000997 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD - LLOYD NEIGHBORS 
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: CROSS-STRAIT RELATIONS 
 
 
¶1. Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused news 
coverage May 2 on Taiwan government's restoration of diplomatic 
relations with Saint Lucia; the resignation of Minister of Labor 
Affairs Lee Ying-yuan out of his stated dissatisfaction with Premier 
Su Tseng-chang's delayed announcement of the increase in minimum 
wage and his intention to campaign for former Premier Frank Hsieh in 
the DPP presidential primary; and on a United Daily News poll 
showing that the gap between former Premier Hsieh and Premier Su is 
narrowing from 10 percentage points to 5 percentage points. 
 
¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, the pro-independence, 
mass-circulation daily "Liberty Times" warned in its editorial that 
pan-Blue political figures' collaboration with China would not 
benefit Taiwan but would facilitate China's attempts to absorb the 
island.  The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" 
editorialized that the primary purposes of Taiwan's diplomacy are to 
protect Taiwan's national security, to satisfy Taiwan's national 
interests, and to promote Taiwan as a valuable and essential member 
of the world community.  The editorial added that it is unnecessary 
for all of Taiwan's embassies or representative offices to devote 
their primary energies to Taiwan's bids to join the United Nations 
and the World Health Organization, because these tasks are long-term 
goals and must be carried out by only Taiwan's representatives in 
New York and Geneva.  End summary. 
 
¶3. Cross-Strait Relations 
 
A) "'To Benefit Taiwan' is False, but to 'Facilitate Absorbing 
Taiwan' is True" 
 
The pro-independence, mass-circulation daily, "Liberty Times" 
[circulation: 500,000] said in its editorial (05/02): 
 
"... Just as in previous KMT-CPC forums, the 'joint suggestions' 
reached after the big show of united front tactics are filled with 
plans to hollow out and absorb Taiwan.  From Taiwan's position, 
these 'joint suggestions' will integrate Taiwan and ultimately unify 
the island with China.  However, these Taiwan people who play 
insignificant roles [i.e. KMT Honorary Chairman Lien Chan and his 
aides] have thought from China's perspective and even considered 
that they should take the credit [for openness in cross-Strait 
trade].... 
 
"... The goal of China's united front strategy toward Taiwan is to 
integrate Taiwan's economy into that of China and define direct 
transportation [across the Taiwan Strait] and travel [to Taiwan] as 
domestic affairs, and to make Taiwan's young students [feel] 
attached to the mainland.  Since 2000, especially since 2004, China 
has finally found an agent in Taiwan willing to publicly 'ally with 
the communists to restrain Taiwan,' to promote China's united front 
tactics, to pressure our government for proactive openness, to 
impede our country from strengthening its defense capability, and to 
confuse our compatriots' Taiwan identity.  Those who hold flags in 
Beijing yelled out slogans of 'anti-Communism' while they were in 
office; now they 'ally with the Communists' after they no longer 
have power.  These people are paradoxical and ludicrous, and we 
cannot help but sigh and regret. ..." 
 
B) "A More Flexible Foreign Policy" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation: 
20,000] editorialized (05/02): 
 
"The decision by the World Health Organization secretariat last week 
to term Taiwan's application to join the World Health Assembly a 
'non-issue,' and its declaration that Taiwan is ineligible for WHO 
membership because our country is not a sovereign state, stands as 
one more frustration in our efforts to secure just representation in 
international organizations. 
 
"... This action, as well as Beijing's denigrating arrangement to 
treat Taiwan as the first 'domestic' stop for the Olympic torch 
relay, reflects the PRC's decision to identify 2007 as a 'year of 
opposition to Taiwan Independence' and to use every possible method 
and opportunity to squeeze Taiwan's international space and negate 
the reality of Taiwan's existence. ..." 
 
"... In the run-up to the upcoming national legislative elections 
and next year's presidential election, it is essential for the DPP 
to re-examine both its short-term tactics and its long-term 
strategies in its external policy as a foundation for pursuing 
consensus toward the objective of securing Taiwan's proper place in 
the international community. 
 
"After all, if the DPP or its presidential nominee does not engage 
in a thorough strategic re-examination, the KMT and its candidate, 
likely to be former KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou, will do so in a less 
friendly manner. 
 
"The most fundamental question that needs to be asked is the purpose 
of Taiwan's diplomacy, which should be to both [sic] protect 
Taiwan's national security, satisfy our national interests and to 
promote Taiwan into a valuable and essential member of the world 
community. 
 
"Certainly a long-term objective is to realize a position as a 
"normal country" that has its rightful and recognized position on 
the global stage under its own chosen name and with its own 
constitution, but the positing of this goal does not necessarily 
mean that it requires the allocation of the bulk of Taiwan's 
diplomatic relations [sic]. 
 
"... Such goals have important strategic importance, especially in 
terms of Taiwan's efforts to strive for legitimacy and justice on 
the world stage, but this fact does not mean that these long-term 
nominal goals require the lion's share of our limited diplomatic 
resources in terms of funds, manpower or brainpower. 
 
"We also should be realistic about the benefits of U.N. membership 
for Taiwan, even if the daunting obstacles in front of this 
objective [sic], especially the rigid opposition by the PRC, which 
has a veto power as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. 
 
 
"For example, U.N. membership will not necessarily guarantee 
Taiwan's security from military aggression by the PRC, and hopes for 
international rescue will rely less on U.N. mechanisms than on 
Taiwan's main allies as well as the broader global civic society 
opposed to an expansionist and authoritarian PRC. 
 
"The prime significance of the campaigns to join the U.N. and WHO as 
Taiwan is to say "no" to Beijing's "one-China" principle and its 
claim on Taiwan, to affirm the sovereignty of democratic Taiwan and 
its 23 million people, and to expose to the world both the genuine 
nature of the PRC regime and the timidity of U.N. members in the 
face of the PRC's expansionism abroad and systematic violation of 
human rights at home. 
 
"There should also be no need for all of Taiwan's offshore embassies 
or representative offices to devote their primary energies to these 
campaigns, which are centered mainly in New York and Geneva. 
 
"On the multilateral front, Taiwan needs to pay greater attention 
and adopt a broader strategic approach to managing its roles in the 
World Trade Organization and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation 
Forum, in which Taiwan already has membership. 
 
"Although the WTO is called the "economic United Nations," the 
Geneva-based world trade body increasingly deals with issues that 
transcend purely economic or trade considerations and extend into 
the spheres of environmental protection, labor rights, cultural 
development and geopolitics and therefore requires strategic 
leadership and coordination at the presidential level, not simply 
the Ministry of Economic Affairs, in order to ensure that our actual 
role in the WTO reflects the values and interests of a "democratic 
and progressive" Taiwan. 
 
"Scarcely less important is APEC, which is a crucial focus for 
contention between the United States, Japan, the PRC and the 
Association of Southeast Asian Nations to deal with the rise of 
Asian regionalism and also to map out coordinated programs to cope 
 
with regional development issues spanning the two sides of the 
Pacific. 
 
"Another question of priorities involves the drive to secure 
bilateral free trade agreements, which is now focused on the United 
States and Japan, which no longer have former relations [sic: 
probably means 'formal relations'] with Taipei and are thus unlikely 
to ink FTAs with Taiwan in the near future but will not be loath to 
use the process to press Taiwan for more trade concessions. 
 
"A more pragmatic approach would be for Taiwan to sign FTAs with its 
diplomatic partners and adopt a role as a "leading goose" and market 
to help lift the economic levels of our allies and consolidate such 
partnerships." 
 
YOUNG