VZCZCXYZ0011
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #1430/01 2760948
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 020948Z OCT 08
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0055
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 8625
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0075

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001430 
 
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 news 
coverage October 2 on the revamped U.S. financial bailout plan, 
which is scheduled for the Senate's vote Thursday morning; on rumors 
that a big local bank is suffering financial problems; on the probe 
into the alleged money-laundering case involving former President 
Chen Shui-bian and his family; and on the Taiwan government's 
follow-on measure to tackle the melamine-tainted dairy products from 
China.  The centrist, KMT-leaning "China Times" ran a banner 
headline on page seven reading "United States:  No Need to Care so 
Much about the Timeline of [U.S.] Arms Sales to Taiwan." 
 
¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, a column in the 
mass-circulation "Apple Daily," citing  cases such as open U.S. 
support for Taiwan's bid to participate in UN specialized agencies 
and the alleged frozen U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, said that neither 
the United States nor President Ma Ying-jeou knows what the other is 
doing.  A "China Times" column discussed the Bush Administration's 
financial bailout plan and asked if Washington will eventually seek 
help from China to resolve its biggest-ever financial crisis.  An 
op-ed in the pro-unification "United Daily News" also called for 
cooperation between China, the United States and Taiwan jointly to 
resolve the global financial crisis.  End summary. 
 
A) "United States and Ma Ying-jeou Have Met Face-to-Face but Never 
Get Really Got to Know Each Other" 
 
Former DPP Legislator Lin Cho-shui wrote in his column in the 
mass-circulation "Apple Daily" [circulation: 520,000] (10/2): 
 
"... The United States encourages Taiwan to engage in dialogue with 
China, but it is concerned that the two sides will talk about 
sovereignty issues.  Washington is clearly aware that Beijing's 
position is that Taiwan's international status is tantamount to that 
of Hong Kong and Macau.  Whoever checks with China will get the same 
answer.  It is stipulated in China's Anti-Secession Law that Beijing 
would conduct negotiations about Taiwan's international space under 
such a principle.  As a result, President Ma and the KMT have 
reiterated more than once that they will talk with China about 
[Taiwan's] international space.  They have been acting in concert 
with the Anti-Secession Law; do they really want Taiwan to be like 
Hong Kong and Macau?  This is something the Americans have problems 
figuring out. 
 
"Ma has problems seeing through the United States, and the United 
States has problems understanding Ma as well.  Even the Taiwan 
people have problems figuring out Ma.  Does Ma have any idea how to 
connect such a series of absurd policies [of his]?  ..." 
 
B) "Will the United States Seek Assistance from China to Solve Its 
[Financial] Crisis?" 
 
The "International Lookout" column in the centrist, KMT-leaning 
"China Times" [circulation: 220,000] noted (10/2): 
 
"... The US$700 billion worth of financial bailout plan is a big 
headache for U.S. President George W. Bush, and Secretary of the 
Treasury Henry Paulson was even on his knees to plead for the plan. 
China, on the other hand, holds US$1.8 trillion in its hands. 
Should Beijing be willing to help, maybe it will not be that 
difficult to solve this problem.  The U.S. government is still too 
embarrassed to ask help from China, but it appears that the 
international community already determines that the U.S. [financial] 
crisis will not be resolved without China's cooperation.  It is 
already very obvious what the next U.S. administration's China 
policy will be like.  Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during a 
speech at National Defense University the other day that China is 
not the United States' enemy.  But if Washington adopts an 
inappropriate policy towards Beijing, it may well turn China into 
its enemy, and that would be a big mistake, Gates added. 
 
"Since the Bush Administration is still seeking internal 
(Congressional) support and has yet to turn to the outside world, 
the Chinese government thus did not express any view.  But reality 
is reality.  For now, the status of a country is built on its 
national strength, which is tantamount to its economic strength." 
 
 
C) "Under the Financial Tsunami, the Proper Way Is for China, the 
United States, and Taiwan to Work with Each Other" 
 
Wang Wu-lang, general-secretary of the Labor Rights Association in 
Kaohsiung, opined in the pro-unification "United Daily News" 
[circulation: 400,000] (10/2): 
 
"... In order to stop the financial crisis from deteriorating 
continuously, [U.S. President George W.] Bush has sent out requests 
to the international community asking for joint cooperation.  What 
caught the world's eyes were perhaps not those G-8 countries which 
said they would go along with [Bush's call], but the positive 
 
attention and reaction offered by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.  It 
goes without saying that such a development was related to the 
interactive economic and trade relations between China and the 
United States.  But it also further pushed the United States and the 
Bush Administration to attach great importance to ... the rise of 
China, forcing it to consider seriously to restrain its desire of an 
'empire' and abandon the old Cold-War thinking. 
 
"This is why despite being driven by the containment policy of 
traditional U.S. military, Bush has consequently come to realize 
before he steps down that the only proper way is to push Beijing, 
Washington and Taipei to move toward and operate in a reasonable 
track of cooperation and peaceful development.  This is also part of 
the implication revealed by the worries over U.S. arms sales to 
Taiwan. ..." 
 
YOUNG