VZCZCXYZ0008
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #2474/01 3180217
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 140217Z NOV 07 ZDK
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7366
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 7431
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 8716

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 002474 
 
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 November 10-13 on AIT Taipei Director Stephen Young's press 
conference Friday, in which he emphasized that "the UN referendum is 
neither necessary nor helpful"; on some newly-produced portable hard 
drives in Taiwan which were discovered to have been pre-installed 
with Trojan Horse viruses by China's Net Force; and on a U.S. 
citizen, who reportedly stowed away from China to Taiwan in 
mid-September.  The mass-circulation "Apple Daily" ran a banner 
headline on page twelve November 10 that read "The United States Has 
Spoken Out Against [the UN] Referendum for the Fifth Time; Stephen 
Young: There is a Price to Be Paid in Mutual Trust between the 
United States and Taiwan." 
 
¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, a column in the 
centrist, KMT-leaning "China Times" discussed AIT Director Stephen 
Young's press conference and said "to a certain extent, not only 
Taiwan but also the United States have been put on a short leash by 
President Chen Shui-bian."  An op-ed in the pro-independence 
"Liberty Times," on the other hand, urged Young to respect the 
prevailing public view in the United States, Japan and Taiwan, which 
supports Taiwan's UN bid.  An editorial in the pro-independence, 
English-language "Taiwan News" said the United States is misguided 
with regard to the DPP's UN referendum.  End summary. 
 
A) "Even the Americans Have Raised Their Voices and Spoken out 
[against President Chen Shui-bian]" 
 
The "Short Commentary" column in the centrist, KMT-leaning "China 
Times" [circulation: 400,000] wrote (11/10): 
 
"... In a press conference held Friday, AIT Taipei Director Stephen 
Young, with a rare and significant gesture, indicated that the 
United States believes Taiwan's UN referendum will pose a threat to 
cross-Strait stability and that 'there is a price to be paid in 
mutual trust between Taiwan and the United States' if Taiwan fails 
to heed the U.S. opinion.  ... To a certain extent, not only Taiwan 
but also the United States have been put on a short leash by Chen 
Shui-bian.  The bargaining chips Chen holds in his hands that make 
him so fearless are Taiwan's strategic significance for the United 
States and the U.S.'s strong moral obligations toward Taiwan.  But 
the question is:  wouldn't Taiwan's situation become more dangerous 
if such relations were jeopardized?  Didn't [Chen] claim that the UN 
referendum was meant to protect Taiwan?" 
 
B) "AIT Director Young, Please Respect Public Opinion in the United 
States, Japan and Taiwan" 
 
Chang Ming-you, a graduate student at Kainan University's Public 
Affairs Department, opined in the pro-independence "Liberty Times" 
[circulation: 720,000] (11/12): 
 
"... AIT held a press conference on November 9, in which Director 
Stephen Young said the United States believes that Taiwan's UN 
referendum appears inconsistent with the spirit of President Chen 
Shui-bian's public commitments.  "The referendum is neither 
necessary nor helpful," Young said, and he went further to emphasize 
in Chinese that the referendum is "bu bi and bu li."  [I] am sure 
that many Taiwan people will feel indignant [about Young's 
statement] and wonder how the United States can interfere with 
Taiwan's right to exercise 'direct democracy?'  This is the right of 
the [Taiwan] people empowered by democracy; to push for [the 
island's] UN bid is to maintain Taiwan's dignity, and all the more, 
it will fulfill President Chen's commitment to the Taiwan people. 
The AIT director should thus apologize to the Taiwan people for his 
remarks. ... 
 
"No international organization is able to turn down [the island's] 
application for membership using the name Taiwan, and Taiwan is the 
name of this country.  Seventy percent of the people in the United 
States support Taiwan's referendum on its UN membership, and more 
than seventy percent of the Taiwan people also support such a move. 
Neither the U.S. government nor the international community should 
overlook Taiwan's voices, rights and interests.  Young said with a 
threatening tone that "We call upon Taiwan's politicians and voters 
to adopt a careful and moderate approach to this issue, and to avoid 
risking acts that cannot really help Taiwan's actual international 
status."  It might well be asked:  If [the UN referendum] really 
cannot help Taiwan's status, it would mean that a democratic country 
cannot help protect the rights and interests of its people.  [Should 
that be the case,] the United States, a democratic country which 
calls itself the 'world's policeman,' has lost its public 
credibility; all it wants is to exchange interests with 'China,' a 
totalitarian country, and totally ignore Taiwan's interests and 
peace. ... 
 
"Taiwan people should use our votes to assert our national dignity; 
we will not compromise because of AIT's threats.  The United States 
has no right to oppose [us].  We want to awaken the international 
community's attention to Taiwan's status and interests.  Moreover, 
 
we want AIT to shut up." 
 
C) "U.S. Misguided on DPP Referendum" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation: 
20,000] editorialized (11/13): 
 
"Despite months of indirect and direct dialogue, the current United 
States administration under President George W. Bush is still unable 
to appreciate the underlying reasons for the referendum proposed by 
the governing Democratic Progressive Party advocating the use of the 
name of "Taiwan" to enter the United Nations.  This state of affairs 
was revealed by American Institute in Taiwan Director Stephen Young 
during a news conference November 9 with regard to what he termed a 
'rough patch' in bilateral relations 'over this government's United 
Nations referendum.'  Although commendably far more respectful of 
Taiwan's democracy than previous remarks by U.S. officials, Young 
stated that the upcoming referendum was 'neither necessary or 
helpful' and renewed Washington's call 'upon Taiwan's politicians 
and voters to adopt a careful and moderate approach to cross-Strait 
relations and to avoid risking acts that cannot really help Taiwan's 
actual international status.' 
 
"Contrary to Young's impressions, the 'bottom-up' referendum 
initiative was launched by the Democratic Progressive Party, which 
remains a civic organization even though it is the governing party, 
and an alliance of civic and social reform groups. ...  Moreover, 
the fact that the petition campaign has received over 2.7 million 
signatures from Taiwan citizens, a number over 10 times the DPP 
membership, should indicate that many Taiwan citizens do believe 
that the referendum is 'necessary and helpful' to 'Taiwan's actual 
international status.' ... 
 
"We believe that it is unfortunate that Young did not reaffirm the 
position of former U.S. president Bill Clinton in March 2000 that 
any such resolution 'must have the assent of the Taiwan people.' 
Nevertheless, Young's position does match Washington's forceful 
reaction to the misinterpretation made of United Nations General 
Assembly Resolution 2758 made by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon 
earlier this year when Ban stated that the October 1971 resolution 
which mandated the transfer of the 'China' seats from the late 
dictator Chiang Kai-shek's exiled Kuomintang regime to the PRC also 
meant that "Taiwan is part of the PRC" as far as the U.N. is 
concerned. ... 
 
"But the more fundamental question is, what does the U.S. envisage 
Taiwan to be politically?  Young asserted that the U.S. does not 
support Taiwan's membership in international organizations for which 
statehood is a requirement and thus implied that Taiwan does not 
meet the standards of having statehood, but did say that Washington 
supports greater participation by Taiwan in international 
organizations and backs proposals for Taiwan to become a formal 
observer in the World Health Organization.  Hence, if Washington 
does not consider Taiwan to possess 'statehood,' it at least 
considers Taiwan to be a distinct political entity. From this 
perspective, Washington's insistence that 'the status quo cannot be 
unilaterally changed by either side of the Taiwan Strait' implies 
that the U.S. would prefer Taiwan to remain an independent political 
entity without any change. 
 
"Although Young said Washington opposes Beijing's efforts to squeeze 
Taiwan's international space, his remarks also reveal a blindness 
over the persistent and ruthless drive by the PRC to squeeze 
Taiwan's actual room for participation and our status in 
international organizations, even those which do not involve 
statehood. ...  As President Chen himself has noted, a referendum in 
which all of our citizens have the option to vote is vastly 
different from an opinion poll in terms of the breadth of 
participation, the preceding process of debate and deliberation and 
the legal mandate of an exercise in direct democracy that will also 
stand as an expression of the collective voice of the Taiwan people 
to safeguard their independence by officially becoming a full member 
of the international community." 
 
YOUNG