VZCZCXYZ0010
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #2298/01 2780922
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 050922Z OCT 07
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7086
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 7334
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 8614

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 002298 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD - NIDA EMMONS 
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 October 5 on Typhoon Krosa, which is expected to hit Taiwan 
over the weekend; on the Double Ten Day celebrations; on Taiwan's UN 
referendum; and on Chen Chi-li, a former criminal gang leader in 
Taiwan known for his alleged involvement in the murder of Taiwan 
writer Henry Liu in San Francisco in 1984, who died of cancer 
Thursday in Hong Kong.  The pro-independence "Liberty Times" ran a 
banner headline on page two that said "[Former Taiwan Foreign 
Minister] Fredrick Chien Confirms the Six Assurances; the United 
States Does Not Support China's Claim of Sovereignty over Taiwan." 
 
 
¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, a "Liberty Times" 
editorial echoed Fredrick Chien's remarks on Taiwan's sovereignty 
and said "it is the pillar of the United States' 'one China policy' 
'not to support the PRC's claim of sovereignty over Taiwan' and not 
to allow Beijing to alter the status of Taiwan's independent 
sovereignty."  An op-ed in the pro-independence, English-language 
"Taipei Times," written by Missouri State University's International 
Affairs graduate program director Dennis Hickey, urged the Bush 
administration to endorse a resolution that enables Taiwan to 
participate in the UN as an observer using the name "Chinese 
Taipei."  End summary. 
 
¶3. U.S.-Taiwan Relations 
 
A) "The United States Has Never Supported the People's Republic of 
China's Sovereignty Claim over Taiwan" 
 
The pro-independence "Liberty Times" [circulation: 720,000] 
editorialized (10/5): 
 
"The 'Heritage Foundation,' a Washington D.C.-based think tank, held 
a seminar recently on 'President Reagan's Six Assurances to Taiwan 
and Their Meaning Today," in which all the persons involved sought 
to go back to history and clarify six 'assurances' that President 
Ronald Reagan had made to President Chiang Ching-kuo. ...  The U.S. 
government has constantly reiterated that its 'one China policy' is 
based on the three communiques signed between China and the United 
States and the 'Taiwan Relations Act.' (TRA)  The seminar on 
'President Reagan's Six Assurances to Taiwan and Their Meaning 
Today' this time provided a valuable opportunity [for people] to get 
a better understanding of the United States' 'one China policy.' 
Through the discussion of the origin and course of development of 
the 'Six Assurances,' people can tell more distinctly that the 
United States' 'one China policy' does not support the People's 
Republic of China's (PRC) claim of sovereignty over Taiwan. 
 
"Whenever the Beijing authorities talk about the 'one China 
principle,' they never mention the TRA or the 'Six Assurances.' 
That is because both the TRA and the 'Six Assurances' partially 
contradict Beijing's 'one China principle.'  Based on the TRA and 
the 'Six Assurances,' the United States has made it very clear that 
Taiwan, the safety of the Taiwan people and Taiwan's future are by 
no means internal affairs of the PRC. ...  [J]udging from the TRA 
and the 'Six Assurances,' one can see very clearly that it is in 
Taiwan's and the United States' common interests to maintain 
regional security in the Western Pacific.  It is also the pillar of 
the United States' 'one China policy' 'not to support the PRC's 
claim of sovereignty over Taiwan' and not to allow Beijing to alter 
the status of Taiwan's independent sovereignty.  The common ground 
of such core values has far exceeded the differences between Taiwan 
and the United States caused by [Taiwan's] UN referendum, and Taipei 
and Washington's 'recollection of the Six Assurances' at this moment 
has pointed out this situation just in time." 
 
B) "US Should Seek Compromise at UN" 
 
Dennis Hickey, director of the graduate program in International 
Affairs at Missouri State University, opined in the 
pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" [circulation: 
30,000] (10/5): 
 
"... Washington should not support Taiwan's full membership in the 
UN or jettison its 'one China' policy. This would jeopardize the US' 
important relationship with China. Moreover, Taiwan's UN campaign 
does hold the potential to increase tensions in the Taiwan Strait. 
Beijing has already threatened Taiwan and calls its vice president 
as 'the scum of the nation.' And Taiwan's new drive to join the UN 
is doomed to failure. China will undoubtedly block the move. But 
there is something the US can do.  In order to defuse the UN 
controversy and help prevent it from escalating into a regional or 
global crisis, the US administration ought to abide by an important 
part of official policy that it now ignores. According to the 1994 
interagency review of US policy toward Taiwan, the US will 'support 
opportunities for Taiwan's voice to be heard in organizations where 
it is denied membership.' But Taipei still has no voice in the UN. 
 
"Rather than bully Taipei, Washington ought to follow the advice it 
 
so often proffers to Beijing and try out some new thinking. 
Employing quiet diplomacy, the US should gently nudge other 
countries -- including China -- toward the idea that Taiwan deserves 
a voice in the UN and should be allowed to participate -- if only as 
an 'observer' or 'non-state actor.'  When the 63rd session of the UN 
General Assembly opens next September and Taipei's diplomatic allies 
once again ask it to consider Taiwan's full membership, Washington 
should be prepared to support a compromise proposal that is 
consistent with longstanding US policy and does not violate the 
sacrosanct 'one China policy.' 
 
"The Bush administration should endorse a resolution that enables 
Taiwan to participate in the UN as an observer using a name similar 
to the one it now employs when participating in the Olympic Games -- 
Chinese Taipei.  After all, it is clear that the time has arrived 
for the international community to find a way for Taiwan's voice to 
be heard in the UN." 
 
YOUNG