VZCZCXYZ0016
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #1381/01 1690751
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 180751Z JUN 07
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5689
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 6918
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 8172

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001381 
 
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: U.S.-TAIWAN RELATIONS 
 
 
¶1. Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused news 
coverage June 16-18 on the Taipei District Court's decision to 
detain Eastern Multimedia Group Chairman Gary Wang Sunday night for 
alleged involvement in a string of embezzlement cases and financial 
crimes; on the Kaohsiung District Court's decision Friday evening to 
annul the result of last December's Kaohsiung mayoral election; on 
the Legislative Yuan's passage of the long-stalled central 
government budget bill for Fiscal 2007 Friday, which also covers 
partial funding for the U.S. arms procurements; on the 
interpretation by the Council of Grand Justices Friday, which 
confirmed the president's constitutional right to decide what 
constitutes a state secret and his right to refuse disclosure; and 
on a serious train collision accident in Yilan County Friday.  The 
pro-independence "Liberty Times" ran a banner headline on page six 
on June 17 that read "With the Budget Finally Passed, the Three 
Major Arms Deals Speed up to Catch up with the Schedule."  In 
addition, all papers carried reports on visiting AIT Chairman 
Raymond Burghardt's roundtable meeting with local journalists Friday 
and his meeting with the two major presidential candidates - the 
DPP's Frank Hsieh and the KMT's Ma Ying-jeou - Saturday. 
 
¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, a "Liberty Times" op-ed 
cited the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration's remark 
that the Cairo Declaration was not a treaty and called on AIT 
Chairman Burghardt to tell U.S. President George W. Bush to abolish 
the one-China policy and support Taiwan's bid to join the United 
Nations using the name Taiwan.  An analysis in the pro-unification 
"United Daily News" commented on President Chen Shui-bian's request 
to AIT Chairman Burghardt that the United States reiterate its "Six 
Assurances."  The article said it is President Chen that has been 
changing all the time and that the Americans will not be taken in 
any more.  An editorial in the limited-circulation, 
pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" called on the 
United States to try to bridge the gap in U.S.-Taiwan relations. 
End summary. 
 
A) "Raymond Burghardt, Please Tell George W. Bush" 
 
Shen Chien-teh, former associate professor at National Chung Hsing 
University, opined in the pro-independence "Liberty Times" 
[circulation: 500,000] (6/17): 
 
"... Visiting AIT Chairman Raymond Burghardt also said the United 
States does not support Taiwan's participation in international 
organizations for which statehood is a requirement.  But now the 
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration has already 
exposed the fact that, according to the U.S. federal regulations 
regarding archives, the 'Cairo Declaration' was not a treaty.  [We] 
thus want to ask Burghardt to tell [U.S. President George W.] Bush 
when he returns to the United States that he should no longer be 
kept in the dark but should abolish the one-China policy and support 
Taiwan's bid to join the United Nations as a new member using the 
name Taiwan. ..." 
 
B) "Bian Has Been Changing All the Time, Americans Will Not Be Taken 
in Any More" 
 
Journalist Lu De-yun noted in an analysis in the pro-unification 
"United Daily News" [circulation: 400,000] (6/16): 
 
"President Chen Shui-bian's campaign to push for Taiwan's bid to 
join the international organizations using the name Taiwan has 
caused concerns from the United States.  Sources quoting 
high-ranking officials of the Bian administration said that AIT 
Chairman Raymond Burghardt's visit to Taiwan this time was closely 
related to [Chen's moves].  Just as expected, Chen asked Burghardt 
during the latter's visit Thursday to clarify [Washington's] 
position with regard to former President Ronald Reagan's Six 
Assurances made in 1982.  But Burghardt did not directly respond to 
Chen's request. 
 
"The fact that Burghardt chose to have a face-to-face discussion 
with local and foreign journalists in Taipei Friday also indicated 
something unusual.  He spent an hour and let the journalists ask 
whatever questions they wanted.  Such a move fully showed that 
Burghardt wanted to convey the U.S. position and concerns publicly 
to the Taiwan people and those 'who are interested in knowing,' not 
just 'speaking something incomprehensible' to Taipei's Presidential 
Office alone. ... 
 
"Such a way of not responding [directly] to the question has a 
flavor of 'your words against mine.'  Regarding Chen's repetition of 
the 'Four Nos' pledge he made when he was inaugurated in 2000, 
[particularly] after he has substantively violated the 'Four Nos' 
 
pledge many times, it fell on deaf ears with the Americans. ... 
Chen questioned the Americans whether the Six Assurances have been 
changed, but it is basically Chen himself who has been changing all 
the time." 
 
C) "U.S. Needs to Bridge Gap in Taiwan Ties" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation: 
20,000] editorialized (6/18): 
 
"In his meeting with American Institute in Taiwan Board Chairman 
Raymond Burghardt last Thursday, President Chen Shui-bian expressed 
deep concern over whether the Republican administration of U.S. 
President George W. Bush has altered the commitment of the United 
States government to the so-called 'six assurances' of July 1982. 
In particular, Chen asked Washington to offer, at an appropriated 
time, an open reaffirmation of its commitment to the fifth of the 
six assurances given by then U.S. president Ronald Reagan that the 
U.S. "had not altered its position on the sovereignty of Taiwan. 
Coincidently, in a Congressional hearing the same day, U.S. Deputy 
Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia and the Pacific Richard 
Lawless accused the People's Republic of China of 'changing the 
status quo' in the Taiwan strait through its rapid buildup of 
ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan and thus became the first U.S. 
official to openly confirm that the PRC's military expansion had 
unilaterally altered the cross-Strait status quo. 
 
"Besides illustrating the complicated nature of U.S.-Taiwan 
relations, these two statements in Washington and Taipei have shown 
the urgent need for leaders in both capitals to engage in a more 
candid, cooperative and constructive dialogue in the next nine 
months in the run-up to Taiwan's next presidential election. ... 
The obsession of some Washington analysts with their claim that 
President Chen's Democratic Progressive Party administration is 
driving for 'legal Taiwan independence' has blinded them to the 
gravity of Beijing's diplomatic maneuvers which not only aim to 
exclude Taiwan's participation in international organizations but 
more aggressively aim to 'legalize' a status for Taiwan that is 
officially subordinate to the PRC.  The official U.S. position 
toward Taiwan and China is to oppose any unilateral change by either 
side to the 'status quo,' although U.S. officials habitually use 
this phrase only after the Taiwan government has acted in a manner 
perceived to be aggravating the PRC. ... 
 
"We are gratified to finally see public recognition by the Bush 
administration that the PRC's military threats against Taiwan 
constitute an explicit move to 'change' the status quo, but we also 
believe that more than words are needed from Washington to remedy 
the damage done to Taiwan's international status and security. ... 
Moreover, Washington's apparent preoccupation with whether the DPP 
government would attempt to alter the status quo has provided cover 
for substantial actions by the PRC which have indeed actually 
"unilaterally changed the status quo" in a dangerous direction.  A 
balance needs to be struck through more and better dialogue, the 
importance of which has regretfully not been recognized sufficiently 
by the two sides so far and which is impeded by Washington's 
disinclination to allow direct dialogue between Bush or senior Bush 
administration officials and the DPP government. 
 
"Leaders of the Taiwan and U.S. governments should refocus on the 
fundamental commonality of interests and cease exaggerating the 
differences before it is too late.  In a recent speech in Prague, 
Bush himself offered a direction for Taipei and Washington to 
rethink their bilateral relationship by citing both South Korea and 
Taiwan as examples to show that the U.S. can maintain a friendship 
and push a nation toward democracy at the same time.  If Bush is 
serious about his rhetoric, he should display his appreciation for 
the hard work of the Taiwan people in increasing democracy on the 
island and resisting annexation by an authoritarian state by 
offering greater support for Taiwan in the international arena and 
by actively opposing the PRC's drive to 'legalize' its claim of 
sovereignty over Taiwan in international organizations." 
 
YOUNG