VZCZCXYZ0004
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #1316/01 2480854
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 040854Z SEP 08
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9888
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 8577
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0023

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001316 
 
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 
 
Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused their 
September 4 news coverage on President Ma Ying-jeou's failure in 
realizing his economic platform proposed during the presidential 
campaign; on Ma's definition of cross-Strait relations as "a special 
non-state-to-state relationship"; and on the continuing 
investigation into former President Chen Shui-bian's state affairs 
fund and money laundering cases.  In terms of editorials and 
commentaries, an op-ed piece in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily" 
criticized President Ma's excessive tilt toward China and said Ma 
has "become a troublemaker identical with A-Bian in the eyes of the 
United States." An op-ed in the pro-independence, English-language 
"Taipei Times" listed several mistakes in the Ma Administration's 
approaches to Taiwan's UN bid this year, including allowing the 
United States to continue offering no support to Taiwan for the bid. 
 End summary. 
 
A) "Two Troublemakers in the Eyes of the United States" 
 
Former DPP Legislator Lin Cho-shui wrote in the mass-circulation 
"Apple Daily" [circulation: 520,000] (9/4): 
 
"The United States originally believed that the military balance in 
the Taiwan Strait would tip in favor of China unless Taiwan 
purchased new fighter jets, so it has exhausted every means it could 
use to persuade Taiwan to buy the F-16 C/D aircraft.  Surprisingly, 
however, Washington said it does not want to sell the fighter jets 
[to Taiwan] any more.  [Now] the United States and the Blue and 
Green camps in Taiwan are shirking the responsibility and blaming 
each other for the failed arms deal, and the whole issue has 
developed into a mysterious puzzle.  The general outline concerning 
the evolving process of this issue has become more or less clearer: 
The key lies in the fact that Washington has been greatly upset by 
Taiwan's former President Chen Shui-bian and incumbent President Ma 
Ying-jeou, and that Ma has been defined by the United States as 
another troublemaker, succeeding Bian. ... 
 
"[Retired] Major General Huang I-li of the Ministry of National 
Defense Department of Strategic Planning's Division of Force 
Planning, who has participated many times in the negotiations for 
arms procurements, lately said, surprisingly, that 'a major reason 
behind the fact that the United States has been unwilling to settle 
the eight-item arms procurements as of now is that it is worried 
that relations between Taiwan and Mainland China would get intimate, 
and that the weapons Washington sells to Taiwan will likely fall 
into the hands of Beijing in the future!'  Huang's remarks may sound 
horrifying, but they do not appear to be rumors.  As a matter of 
fact, Washington has been having constant doubts about Taiwan ever 
since Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized in public that 
'it is a good thing that Taiwan is improving ties with China, but 
[Taiwan] must not forget the United States.'  The most serious case 
was of course the two noes brought up by AIT Chairman Raymond 
Burghardt to the Ma Administration:  Namely, 'there should be no 
hint that China has sovereignty over Taiwan, and that Beijing cannot 
have the final say regarding any of Taiwan's activities in the 
international community.  If Burghardt had really said so, it would 
be akin to reproaching Ma in a totally impolite manner not to look 
upon China as a suzerain state and see the island itself as a 
dependent country [of China].  The United States also asked, 'does 
Taiwan still need the United States to continue supporting it to 
become an observer in the World Health Organization next year?' ... 
 
"The afore-mentioned remarks by [retired] Major General Huang and 
the hearsay surrounding Burghardt will, in general, be denied by the 
United States in public.  But these rumors are completely consistent 
with the logic behind Rice's doubts about whether 'Taiwan remains a 
friend of the United States.'  Since the United States became so 
furious as to make a big move by abruptly refusing its arms sales 
[to Taiwan], it is by no means strange for Washington to express a 
disgraceful reproach or even upsetting scorn [to Taiwan] in private. 
 As a result of [his] ambiguous concept of sovereignty, lack of 
central values and excessive defeatism, Ma mistakenly believes that 
his diplomatic truce, efforts to put cross-Strait relations ahead of 
[Taiwan's] foreign relations or even to 'request international space 
from China' will curry flavor with the United States.  But to his 
surprise, he has become a troublemaker identical with A-Bian in the 
eyes of the United States. 
 
"China must be very happy that Ma has succeeded Bian in the role of 
being a troublemaker to the United States.  However, the reward that 
[China gave to Taiwan] is anything but reassuring; that is,  China's 
Taiwan Affairs Office Director Wang Yi was disdainful of Taiwan's 
participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA), and Chinese 
Ambassador to the UN Wang Guangya did not hesitate to show his 
disdain for Ma's low-profile attempt to participate in UN 
specialized agencies.  Ma must be confused by all this, but it 
should not be difficult [for Ma] to find out the reason why.  Having 
discovered that the United States has lowered its support for 
Taiwan, Beijing must reckon that now is the best time to compress 
Taiwan's road for survival even further. 
 
 
"[Ma's] excessive tilting toward China has received nothing but 
converging attacks from both China and the United States in return. 
If people are insulted by others, it must be because they insult 
themselves first.  This is an inevitable consequence of the Ma 
Administration's unwise adoption of overly weak cross-Strait and 
diplomatic strategies." 
 
B) "Ma's Non-Bid for the UN Is Anything but Meaningful" 
 
Gerrit Van Der Wees, an editor of the Washington-based publication 
"Taiwan Communiqu," opined in the pro-independence, 
English-language "Taipei Times" [circulation: 30,000] (9/4): 
 
"On Aug. 15, the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou launched 
its version of the annual bid to join the UN.  But instead of 
knocking on the front door and asking for membership - as was done 
last year by former president Chen Shui-bian's Democratic 
Progressive Party government - Ma was meekly asking for 'meaningful 
participation' in UN agencies.  By using this approach, Ma and his 
administration are undermining Taiwan's position on a number of 
fronts.  First, it opens the door for China to claim Taiwan as its 
subsidiary; second, it endangers Taiwan's sovereignty because it 
does not take its status as a free and democratic nation as a 
starting point; and third, it gives the US and other Western 
countries an excuse to maintain their 'do nothing' approach and 
allow China to have its way in international organizations. ... 
 
"On the third point: While Chen's front-door approach to UN 
membership may have made Western governments uneasy, it did appeal 
to their conscience in the same way appeals from Czechoslovakia and 
Poland in 1938, before being invaded by Germany, made the West feel 
uneasy.  The subsequent developments in 1938 and 1939 showed how 
wrong it was for the US and Western Europe to look the other way and 
ignore the pleas of Czechs and Poles.  Ma's approach has echoes of a 
modern-day Neville Chamberlain: He pretends to be working for 'peace 
in our time,' but his actions and policies are strengthening a 
repressive giant's claims on a democratic neighbor. ..." 
 
WANG