VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #0780 1570946
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 050946Z JUN 08
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9082
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 8335
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 9574

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000780 
 
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: OBAMA'S NOMINATION VICTORY 
 
Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused June 5 news 
coverage on Senator Barack Obama becoming the  Democratic Party's 
presidential nominee; on Taiwan Minister of Foreign Affairs 
Francisco Ou's green card controversy; on President Ma Ying-jeou's 
statement on the 19th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre 
Wednesday; and on planned visits by Taiwan's city and county chiefs 
to China.  In terms of editorials and commentaries, a column in the 
mass-circulation "Apple Daily" commented on Obama's nomination 
victory, saying it proved that the United States has arrived at a 
historical turning point.  An op-ed piece in the pro-unification 
"United Daily News" also said that given Obama's ethnic background, 
the nomination victory itself is of great historical significance. 
End summary. 
 
A) "The United States Standing on a Turning Point" 
 
Columnist Antonio Chiang noted in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily" 
[circulation: 520,000] (6/5): 
 
"... Media in Europe have showed a lopsided aversion to [Senator] 
Hillary Clinton and an inexplicable liking for [Senator] Barack 
Obama.  A similar phenomenon can also be seen in Latin America, 
Africa and the Middle East.  Obama stands for a new America, whereas 
Clinton symbolizes not only the extension of an old era but also the 
successor of the Clinton dynasty.  It will not be easy for Obama to 
defeat John McCain of the Republican Party, and it is still too 
early to tell whether Obama will make significant changes in foreign 
policy.  But Obama's capture of the Democratic Party's presidential 
nomination has proven that  U.S. society has arrived at a historical 
turning point." 
 
B) "The Key to Obama's White House Dream Lies in [Picking the Right] 
Running Mate" 
 
Yan Cheng-sheng, director of the Institute of International 
Relations' America-Europe Division, National Chengchi University, 
opined in the pro-unification "United Daily News" [circulation: 
400,000] (6/5): 
 
"... The fact that [Senator] Barack Obama, who represents a minority 
group that accounts for 12 percent of the entire population in the 
United States, was able to clinch the Democratic Party's 
presidential nomination, is a development of great historic 
significance.  Whether the American voters are willing to cross over 
the fence of ethnicity and support Obama to win the presidency in 
the future will depend on whether the other voters, mainly composed 
of the whites, will be able to overcome their psychological 
barriers. ... 
 
"On January 19, 2009, people will celebrate the 80th birthday of Dr. 
Martin Luther King, and the inauguration of the new U.S. president 
will fall on the next day, and twenty days later, people will 
celebrate the two hundredth birthday of former President Abraham 
Lincoln, who liberated black slaves.  With a greater sense of 
history, the American voters ought to be happy to see Obama elected 
as the next U.S. president - the most powerful testimony of the 
remarkable legacy left behind by these two great men in history." 
 
WANG