VZCZCXYZ0014
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #1296 2420748
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 290748Z AUG 08
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9863
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 8564
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0011

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001296 
 
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 
 
Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused news 
coverage August 29 on Yeh Sheng-mao, the former Director of the 
Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau (MJIB), being indicted 
for concealing information about former President Chen Shui-bian's 
possible involvement in money laundering and the prosecutors' probe 
into the Chen family's money flow in Taiwan and overseas.  The 
pro-independence "Liberty Times" continued alleging that AIT 
Chairman Raymond Burghardt had indeed said the "two noes" to Taiwan. 
 The newspaper ran a banner headline on page two that reads 
"Burghardt Mentioned the Two Noes; a Taiwan Official Stationed in 
the U.S. Was in Attendance on that Occasion."  The report cited its 
sources, which said that the Taiwan official even made a record of 
Burghardt's remarks.  The sources reportedly were puzzled why the 
Taiwan government denied that Burghardt had conveyed the "two noes" 
to Taiwan.  Reflecting on Burghardt's alleged remarks, the "Liberty 
Times" also carried an editorial claimin that the United States and 
Japan must be very worried about Taiwan's leaning toward China.  The 
editorial questioned and criticized how the Ma Ying-jeou 
Administration could feel so nonchalant about such concerns.  End 
summary. 
 
"Has the Ma Administration Heard the U.S. Concerns Regarding 
Taiwan's Sovereignty? 
 
The pro-independence "Liberty Times" [circulation: 720,000] 
editorialized (8/29): 
 
"... The Ma [Ying-jeou] Administration seems to be completely 
careless about the United States and Japan's doubts.  Whether and 
the ease of regulations without limit in economics, or the 
elimination [of Taiwan's] sovereignty in politics, [Ma] has made 
Taiwan step into the quagmires that China has set.  Therefore, [AIT 
Chairman] Raymond Burghardt made the words clearer.  He [Burghardt] 
conveyed the United States' demands to the Ma Administration that 
there should be no hint that China has sovereignty over Taiwan. 
This undoubtedly is because the Ma Administration publicly 
recognizes the non-existent 1992 consensus and claims that 'Taiwan 
and the Mainland belong to one China.'  [The Ma Administration] 
regards Chinese Taipei as the best name [for Taiwan] to participate 
in international organizations, which exactly put Taiwan's 
sovereignty under the level of China.  Such a flagrant 'hint' that 
China has sovereignty is over Taiwan is equivalent to changing the 
status quo across the Taiwan Strait unilaterally.  The United States 
definitely wanted to express its opposition. 
 
"Second, the Ma Administration relies on China economically and is 
willing to be China's dependency politically.  The so-called 
"diplomatic truce" delivers Taiwan's international space into 
China's hands.  It is equivalent to concretely fulfilling [the 
claim] in the international community that China owns Taiwan's 
sovereignty, which encounters the United States' opposition.  Days 
before, the Ma Administration, abandoning the bids for Taiwan to 
enter the UN or the Republic of China to return the UN, instead 
proposed that '23 million people's rights to have meaningful 
participation in UN specialized agencies should be respected.'  Such 
a proposal, although [in it] not even the shadow of a sovereign 
state can be detected, still encountered the opposition from China's 
delegation at the UN.  As a result, what Ma Administration's policy 
of diplomatic truce got in return is that China wants more.  Once 
such a vicious precedent is established, Taiwan's participation in 
the international community will have to be decided by China. 
Taiwan will become part of China, which is totally unacceptable to 
the United States. ... 
 
"The United States or our people might be happy to see relations 
between Taiwan and China improve, or even see relations between the 
two countries [Taiwan and China] normalized.  However, neither our 
people nor the United States would ever agree to let such relations 
'Sinicize Taiwan's sovereignty.'  The Ma Administration's so-called 
setting aside of controversies and [attempts at] diplomatic truces 
only achieve the objective effect that Taiwan's sovereignty is set 
aside and Taiwan's international space is delivered into China's 
hands.  If we continue walking on 'Ma's roadmap,' in less than four 
year's time Taiwan will become a piece of meat in China's mouth. 
There will be a dramatic change to the status quo across the Taiwan 
Strait as well.  Not only the United States but also the Taiwan 
people have seen this [scenario] clearly and as a result have set 
the theme of 'protecting [Taiwan's] sovereignty' as part of the 
three themes of the anti-Ma rally scheduled for August 30.  If the 
Ma Administration does not rein in the horse at the edge of the 
precipice and acts arbitrarily, then domestically and 
internationally the Ma Administration will definitely become a rat 
crossing the street which everyone wants to hit." 
 
WANG