VZCZCXYZ0004
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #0229/01 0510423
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 200423Z FEB 08
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8151
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 7844
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 9105

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000229 
 
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: TAIWAN'S UN REFERENDA, KOSOVO DECLARATION 
OF INDEPENDENCE 
 
 
¶1. Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused news 
coverage February 20 on the March presidential election and the UN 
referenda; on Taiwan's official acknowledgement of Kosovo 
independence; and on the controversy regarding whether the island 
should continue construction of its fourth nuclear power plant.  The 
pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" front-paged an 
exclusive news story quoting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza 
Rice as saying Monday that Kosovo's independence was a special case 
and did not set a precedent for other territories seeking 
independence.  In terms of editorials and commentaries, an op-ed in 
the centrist, KMT-leaning "China Times" discussed Taiwan's UN 
referenda, saying that it is the "name" that Taiwan intends to use 
for its UN membership, not the procedures, that is the problem.  An 
editorial in the pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" 
discussed Kosovo's declaration of independence and said it 
"generated mixed reaction abroad and in Taiwan."  End summary. 
 
¶2. Taiwan's UN Referenda 
 
 "The Sensitivity of [UN] Referenda Does Not Lie in Their 
Procedures" 
 
Shao Chung-hai, visiting professor at the Macau Polytechnic 
Institute, opined in the centrist, KMT-leaning "China Times" 
[circulation: 400,000] (2/20): 
 
 
"... Given that what happened to Kosovo on the Balkan Peninsula will 
likely trigger a trend [encouraging] some ethnic minorities to move 
toward independence, Beijing will surely be more prudent in handling 
[Taiwan's] 'referenda' issue.  As for the role Washington has been 
playing in such a controversy by making harsh remarks to Taipei, 
many people tend to interpret as they have because the [UN 
referenda] are not consistent with U.S. national interests.  But 
such interpretation does not sound very convincing when it comes to 
the question of why [Taiwan's UN referenda] will endanger the United 
States' national interests.  [More questions also rise] when people 
see the strong support the United States offered to Kosovo when the 
latter declared independence, even at the risk of offending Russia 
and facing Serbia's strong backlash.  The difference [in the U.S. 
attitude] indicated [the possibility that] Taipei has failed to 
estimate accurately the strategic interests between Beijing and 
Washington.  Or perhaps Taipei has underestimated the opposite 
parties, believing that Beijing and Washington will just make some 
loud noises [without taking real action], even if Taiwan conducts 
the referenda. 
 
"As it stands now, it is sure that the referenda will be held, and 
more criticism will not undo what is done.  But Taipei can still 
make a U-turn if it realizes that the key lies in the name [that 
Taiwan uses to apply for the UN membership], whereas the procedure 
was never an issue." 
 
¶3. Kosovo Declaration of Independence 
 
"Mixed Messages of Kosovo Liberty" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation: 
20,000] editorialized (2/20): 
 
"Sunday's declaration of independence of the small Balkan state of 
Kosovo, a former landlocked province of Serbia which has been under 
limited self-government and United Nations administration since 
mid-1999 after a military intervention by the North Atlantic Treaty 
Organization, generated mixed reactions abroad and in Taiwan. ... 
As noted in an earlier editorial ("Why Kosovo, not Taiwan?" on June 
14, 2007), citizens of Taiwan can be forgiven for feeling a bit 
envious for the rush by the United States and other democratic 
states to 'provoke' the powerful Russian Federation by encouraging 
and recognizing the independence of a state which remains 
politically unstable and requires security assistance from a United 
Nations peace-keeping force and has questionable economic 
viability. 
 
"In contrast, these same democratic paragons remain unwilling to 
even consider acknowledging the existence of Taiwan's fully 
independent democratic republic and instead fall over themselves in 
their eagerness to appease the PRC by slamming the Taiwan government 
for allowing the holding of referenda in which the Taiwan people 
will have their first ever opportunity to express their views on 
whether they want to join the U.N. ...  Interestingly, the positive 
response of Taiwan's foreign ministry was at odds with the reaction 
of its counterpart in the Chinese Communist Party-ruled PRC, which 
expressed 'deep concern' over 'Kosovo's unilateral declaration of 
independence.' ... 
 
"... Evidently, Beijing has no intention of following its own advice 
to Kosovo and Serbia and believes that 'negotiations to reach a 
OF INDEPENDENCE 
 
mutually acceptable plan' is a genuine option for relations between 
the democratic and self-governing Taiwan and the authoritarian PRC. 
Liu's statement takes on special significance given its concurrence 
with our March 22 presidential election since it convincingly shows 
that the PRC government will allow no room for ambiguity that its 
'one-China principle' defines Taiwan as nothing else than 'part of 
the PRC' regardless of Taiwan's actual existing independence or the 
will of our 23 million people. 
 
"Liu's statement stands as a confirmation that the position offered 
by KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou that cross-Strait 
negotiations can be reignited by acceptance of 'the Consensus of 
1992' which Ma defines as 'one China with separate interpretations' 
and which he maintains that 'China' as the 'Republic of China' is 
nothing more than a self-deceiving delusion.  Beijing has not 
adopted a strategy of 'different positions toward insiders and 
outsiders' but has followed a 'single standard' of demanding 
Taiwan's surrender of its 'outsider' status as a democratic 
independent state and acceptance a subordinate 'insider' status 
under the PRC as the price of 'peace.'" 
 
YOUNG