VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #1294/01 1590855
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 080855Z JUN 07
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5572
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 6890
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 8145

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001294 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD - DAVID FIRESTEIN 
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: TAIWAN SEVERING DIPLOMATIC TIES WITH COSTA 
RICA, U.S.-CHINA-TAIWAN RELATIONS 
 
 
¶1. Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused news 
coverage June 8 on Taiwan's cutting diplomatic ties with Costa Rica 
after the latter decided to establish relations with China; on 
former President Lee Teng-hui's visit to Japan's Yasukuni Shrine 
Thursday; on the cooperation between Taiwan and U.S. authorities in 
raiding a human trafficking ring in Taiwan; and on other local 
issues.  In terms of editorials and commentaries, most papers 
editorialized on Taiwan's cutting diplomatic ties with Costa Rica. 
An editorial in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily," an analysis in 
the centrist, KMT-leaning "China Times," and an editorial in the 
pro-unification "United Daily News" all criticized the Chen 
Shui-bian administration for its foreign policy and for the 
deterioration in Taiwan-U.S. relations.  With regard to 
U.S.-China-Taiwan relations, an editorial in the 
limited-circulation, conservative, pro-unification, English-language 
"China Post" urged the DPP government to listen to the warnings 
given by the American Chamber of Commerce in its annual white paper. 
 An editorial in the limited-circulation, pro-independence, 
English-language "Taiwan News," however, urged the United States to 
compel China to abide by the universal standards for human rights 
and support Taiwan's bid to join the World Health Organization.  End 
summary. 
 
¶2. Taiwan Severing Diplomatic Ties with Costa Rica 
 
A) "Taiwan Has Violated a Big Strategic Taboo in Terms of Its 
Foreign Relations" 
 
The mass-circulation "Apple Daily" [circulation: 520,000] 
editorialized (6/8): 
 
"... The fact that the United States failed to support Taiwan in 
Central and South America was a misfortune caused by the Bian 
authorities' maxing out the credit of Taiwan-U.S. relations.  Taiwan 
must not blame anyone.  The truth lies very clearly before us:  When 
Taiwan-U.S. relations get cold, Taiwan will not be able to compete 
with China diplomatically.  If the island does not want to concede, 
it had better be prepared to sever ties with all its allies. ..." 
 
B) "Bian's Cutthroat Diplomacy; Costa Rica Becomes the First 
Domino" 
 
Journalist Lin Shui-ling noted in an analysis in the centrist, 
KMT-leaning "China Times" [circulation: 400,000] (6/8): 
 
"... Chen Shui-bian's foreign policies lately have all been focused 
on winning the 2008 election, fortifying Taiwan's defense works and 
drawing a clear line with Beijing.  He lashed out at China's 
suppression on the one hand, and in the meantime, he launched an 
all-out campaign for name change, the writing of a new constitution, 
and even a bid to join the World Health Organization and the United 
Nation under the name Taiwan. With the rising flames of war, 
relations between both sides of the Taiwan Strait deteriorate 
gradually, and even the United States cannot stop A-Bian's 
determination. ... 
 
"Following the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and 
Costa Rica, Chen has extended the battlefront to the UN General 
Assembly, which will be held in New York in September, and intends 
to apply for membership for the UN using the name Taiwan.  Even 
though the U.S. State Department has made it very clear that it will 
not support [Taiwan's bid], Bian remains firm in pushing for it by 
spending a tremendous amount of money on lobbying by public 
relations companies and on holding video conferences to build up 
momentum.  Is it any wonder some people are worried about whether 
Costa Rica will become the first domino [in Central America]? ... 
 
"The United States has played a very important role behind the fact 
that Taiwan, given the big gap between its national strength and 
that of China, has been able to maintain more than 20 diplomatic 
allies over the past few years.  Be it Central America, also known 
as 'the backyard of the United States,' the South Pacific island 
nations which are situated in the strategic position of the Pacific 
chain, or the African area, the United States has had helped Taiwan 
in many ways, because it does not want to see Beijing lure away all 
[Taiwan's] allies. 
 
"But in the wake of Bian's making it clear that he did not care 
about the United States and would continue his policy of confronting 
Beijing, Washington also started to take a stand -- first it 
penalized Taiwan by saying there would be no talks for the free 
trade agreement, and it remains to be seen whether Washington will 
further alter its policy of supporting Taiwan to maintain an 
appropriate number of diplomatic allies. ..." 
 
C) "Is Costa Rica the First Domino?" 
 
The pro-unification "United Daily News" [circulation: 400,000] 
RICA, U.S.-CHINA-TAIWAN RELATIONS 
 
editorialized (6/8): 
 
"... Beijing easily snatching away Costa Rica [from Taiwan] revealed 
the effects of its thorough planning in the region.  Beijing's 
diplomatic approach is to calculate every move carefully, something 
that Taiwan's thoughtless showman diplomacy cannot compare with. 
The reason why Beijing has yet to make a big move to lure away 
Taiwan's major allies in Central America and the Caribbean was 
because it has scruples about the United States' feeling about its 
'backyard.'  In this regard, the breaking of ties with Costa Rica 
might not have happened at this moment if China had not sought 
revenge for Taiwan's luring away of St. Lucia.  The Bian 
administration has finally reaped the bitter results of its 
diplomatic provocations. ..." 
 
¶3. U.S.-China-Taiwan Relations 
 
A) "AmCham's Warning Shouldn't Go Unheeded" 
 
The conservative, pro-unification, English-language "China Post" 
[circulation: 30,000] editorialized (6/8): 
 
"The American Chamber of commerce (AmCham) in its latest annual 
White Paper, pointed out that Taiwan's economy has fallen behind 
other Asian tigers.  The opinion deserves to be noticed by all those 
who are concerned about Taiwan's future. ...  Alleging that Taiwan 
still has many key assets, including its strength in high-tech 
manufacturing, that could enable it to continue to be a dynamic 
player, [AmCham President Jane] Hwang added that the country's 
future success will depend on 'whether the political and popular 
will is present to tackle some underlying systematic problems.' 
Such a will has been absent for a long time and is unlikely to 
return as long as the DPP is in power.  The party is always 
preoccupied with how it can defeat its political rivals and seldom 
thinks about problems relating to the island's economy." 
 
B) "Democracy - the Only Way to 'Contain' China" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation: 
20,000] editorialized (6/8): 
 
"... China has been a hot topic of many discussions and seminars on 
security issues worldwide in recent months for the very good reason 
that the evaluation of various governments and parties of the 
direction and character of China's rise as a possible challenge to 
the international order shaped by the United States will directly 
influence the strategic positioning and arrangements of the key 
countries in defining their own relations with the U.S. and the PRC. 
 Clearly, the U.S., including the Republican administration of U.S. 
President George W. Bush, sees the PRC as a potential threat in the 
future, but it treats Beijing as a partner for short-term economic 
and political interests, especially on issues such as curbing North 
Korea's nuclear ambitions. 
 
"There are unavoidable tensions between short-term priorities and 
the long-term perspective as Washington's short-term arrangements 
with the PRC will tend to encourage other influential countries to 
adopt friendly policies toward Beijing, a trend that would favor 
granting China a 'constructive role' in the international arena and 
thus perhaps enhance its potential threat to U.S. hegemony.  So far, 
the Bush II administration has shown considerable awkwardness in 
managing the adjustment between the long-term and short-term 
interests, including in its management of the triangular relations 
between an authoritarian PRC, a newly democratic Taiwan and the U.S. 
itself.  Although evidently identifying its role as a world 
policeman against 'terror,' the Bush administration has exhausted 
the U.S.' diplomatic, military and even economic capital by trying 
to deal with a series of regional and global crises largely through 
reliance on force. 
 
"By treating the question of 'terrorism' primarily in military terms 
as a 'war' conducted through invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the 
U.S. has had to pay a high strategic price by inviting Beijing to 
cooperate in helping Washington resolve crises such as the North 
Korean nuclear controversy or even Iraq itself.  By engaging in 
short-term demonstrations of 'hard power' at the expense of 
cultivation of long-term 'soft power,' Washington is undermining its 
own international leadership which is not based only on material 
strength but on the U.S.' past reputation as a promoter of 
democracy, human rights, the rule of law and a stable global order. 
Washington's current obsession with military power and domestic 
security as crystallized in Bush's proclaimed 'war on terror' has 
led U.S. decision-makers to neglect the primacy of the moral 
obligation to protect human ideals and the potential damage of its 
loss of moral leadership. 
 
"The adoption by the current U.S. administration of a policy of 
appeasement toward the PRC will only worsen matters by reinforcing 
RICA, U.S.-CHINA-TAIWAN RELATIONS 
 
Washington's allies' incentives to accommodate themselves to 
Beijing's substandard and bullying behavior in the international 
arena, and by confounding the moral standard for the code of conduct 
in the international arena.  Taiwan's helplessness in apply for the 
entry or even 'meaningful participation' in the World Health 
Organization has revealed the power of the PRC's tactics of bullying 
and the weakness of the moral fabric and will of international 
society reminiscent of the tragic and costly failure of the world's 
democracies to stand up to Nazi Germany in the 1930s, symbolized by 
the betrayal of Republican Spain and democratic Czechoslovakia. ... 
 
"Instead of giving into the PRC on all fronts, the best way for the 
U.S. to rebuild its global image and 'soft power' is to display its 
own respect for universal standards of morality by facing up to the 
worsening crises of global warmings and global poverty, finding a 
way to end the ongoing war in Iraq and closing the concentration 
camp for hundreds of alleged 'terrorists' at the U.S. base in 
Guantanomo Bay, Cuba.  The U.S. has to lead as well as join the 
world community in compelling the PRC to abide by the universal 
standards for human rights at home and abroad.  We believe 
Washington can send important messages to Beijing by supporting 
Taiwan's entry into humanitarian international organizations such as 
the World Health Organization instead of bowing to Beijing's 
pressure. ..." 
 
YOUNG