VZCZCXYZ0008
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #1138/01 2170911
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 040911Z AUG 08
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9655
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 8496
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 9712

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001138 
 
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.-CHINA-TAIWAN RELATIONS 
 
¶1. Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused August 
2-4 news coverage on the Olympic Games in Beijing; on President Ma 
Ying-jeou's call for "workable diplomacy" in Taiwan's foreign 
relations; on U.S. arms sales to Taiwan; and on the domestic oil 
price adjustment policy.  Several papers also reported on U.S. 
President George W. Bush's interview with international media 
representatives last Wednesday, in which he said he was very pleased 
with the current situation in cross-Strait relations.  The August 4 
edition of centrist, KMT-leaning "China Times" ran a banner headline 
on page six, quoting outgoing Taiwan representative to the U.S. 
Joseph Wu as saying "The United States Should Rank Top ion 
[Taiwan's] Diplomatic Strategy." 
 
¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, an editorial in the 
conservative, pro-unification, English-language "China Post" 
discussed U.S. President Bush's latest remarks on the current state 
of cross-Strait relations and said it believes "that Bush will most 
likely advise [Chinese President] Hu to be more generous in his 
dealings with Taipei."  An op-ed piece by Richard Halloran, a U.S. 
writer based in Hawaii, in the pro-independence, English-language 
"Taipei Times" discussed Beijing's move to "politicize the 
Olympics."  The article said Bush's plan to attend the opening 
ceremony of the Olympic Games "will be part of that highly charged 
political event as the first U.S. president ever to go abroad to the 
Olympics."  A separate "Taipei Times" editorial, on the other hand, 
discussed a recent article written by Jeffrey Bader and Richard Bush 
of the Brookings Institute on the future U.S.-China relations if 
Democratic Senator Barack Obama were elected as the next U.S. 
president.  The editorial concluded by saying that "Bader and 
Richard Bush's article may be the first signal that Taiwanese 
democrats will have no choice but to support Republican Senator John 
McCain's presidential candidacy before he has even made a move on 
China policy."  End summary. 
 
A) "Bush Pleased with Us Again" 
 
The conservative, pro-unification, English-language "China Post" 
[circulation: 30,000] editorialized (8/3): 
 
"... During a meeting at the White House with Asian media reporters 
held on the eve of his last official trip to Asia, President Bush 
brought up the issue of Taiwan and his views about the current state 
of cross-strait relations. ...  In his remarks published yesterday, 
Bush revealed for the first time that the U.S. administration indeed 
had 'some red lines' that it would not permit Taipei to cross, 
namely that 'there would be no unilateral declaration of 
independence' by Taiwan.  This marked the first time that a sitting 
U.S. president has ever publicly stated what observers have known 
for many years, namely that the U.S. would not permit our government 
to stir up regional tensions by seeking de jure independence. 
 
"In the past, U.S. leaders have couched their warnings in more vague 
terms, such as warning that Washington was against any change in the 
status quo of the Taiwan Strait by either Beijing or Taipei.  Now we 
can see that the U.S. viewed Taipei, not Beijing, as the 
troublemaker in cross-strait relations during the Chen Shui-bian 
era.  But at the same time, we can see that Washington is now 
satisfied with our current government's policy. So it appears that 
our government is finally out of the doghouse in Washington. ... 
 
"The reports have said that Bush will 'inform' [Chinese President] 
Hu about the arms sales, rather than make it an issue for further 
discussion or negotiation.  Based on President Bush's remarks to 
reporters in the White House, we believe these reports are probably 
true. Indeed, given the sensitive nature of any arms sales to 
Taiwan, the best time for the U.S. government to make such sales 
come at the tail end of an outgoing president's administration. ... 
We believe that Bush will most likely advise Hu to be more generous 
in his dealings with Taipei, since it is clear that in his view, we 
are no longer deliberately stirring up trouble in the region." 
 
B) "Beijing Politicizing the Olympics" 
 
Richard Halloran, a U.S. writer based in Hawaii, opined in the 
pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" [circulation: 
30,000] (8/3): 
 
"To most people outside of Taiwan and China, a dispute over the name 
of Taiwan's Olympic team might seem petty. However, the argument has 
underscored an elemental point: The Games that open on Friday in 
Beijing may be the most politicized since Nazi German dictator Adolf 
Hitler sought to enlist the Berlin Olympics of 1936 as evidence of 
Aryan racial superiority.  Moreover, US President George W. Bush, 
who plans to attend the opening ceremony, will be part of that 
highly charged political event as the first US president ever to go 
abroad to the Olympics. His decision has been mildly controversial: 
On one hand, it gives the president an opportunity to engage Chinese 
leaders; on the other, it may be seen as reinforcing the oppressive 
rule of China's communist regime. ..." 
 
 
C) "One Strike against Obama's Aides" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" [circulation: 
30,000] editorialized (8/2): 
 
"It may seem premature to assess the benefits for Taiwan that the US 
presidential candidates may offer after gaining office. Yet there 
are hints of things to come from the Democrats based on the written 
word.  An article by Jeffrey Bader and Richard Bush of the Brookings 
Institution released this week suggests that if Democratic Senator 
Barack Obama were president, then Taiwanese who value democracy have 
reason to be even more nervous than they are now. ...  Bader and 
Richard Bush's article may be the first signal that Taiwanese 
democrats will have no choice but to support Republican Senator John 
McCain's presidential candidacy before he has even made a move on 
China policy.  The authors are reportedly awaiting senior positions 
in an Obama administration, which lends weight to these fears. In 
Richard Bush's case, the article is particularly disappointing: As a 
former American Institute in Taiwan chairman, he was well placed to 
understand that the situation in China is far more complex than the 
article's banal allusions to the Chinese psyche might admit. ... 
 
"The suggestion that Washington's dealings with China 'should be 
offered in the spirit of trying to help them help themselves, not in 
order to judge them as morally deficient' is even harder to sustain 
given that the Chinese government is morally deficient. Such a 
government - with its litany of abuses of the weakest members of its 
society and its morally vacuous conduct in the international sphere, 
most recently seen in protecting Zimbabwe from UN sanctions and even 
in its humiliation of the International Olympic Committee - cannot 
be trusted to "help itself" when it already considers itself beyond 
Washington's reproach, or anyone's reproach, for that matter. ... 
If this kind of rationalization of Chinese misrule, aggression and 
disingenuousness fairly reflects an Obama administration's take on 
US-China relations, there will be no 'change we can believe in' as 
far as Taiwanese are concerned. Instead, there will only be cause 
for despair as the pro-China network settles in for yet another 
term, comfortable in the knowledge that Obama will have neither the 
incentive nor the intellectual support to help Taiwan recover the 
ground that it is losing." 
 
YOUNG