VZCZCXYZ0003
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #1770 3580756
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 230756Z DEC 08
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0616
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 8814
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0274

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001770 
 
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 December 
23 news coverage on the arrival in Taiwan of two giant pandas from 
China; on the island's unemployment rate, which hit a five-year high 
in November; on the recently concluded forum between the KMT and the 
Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai; and on the continuous probe 
into the former First Family of Taiwan's alleged money laundering 
cases.  In terms of editorials and commentaries, a column in the 
centrist, KMT-leaning "China Times" discussed possible changes in 
U.S.-China relations in the wake of the financial crisis.  The 
article urged Taiwan to calmly contemplate its role in the new and 
changing Washington-Beijing ties.  End summary. 
 
"Sino-U.S. Relations under the Onslaught of [Financial] Tsunami" 
 
Deputy Editor-in-Chief Kuo Chen-lung wrote in the "International 
Column" in the centrist, KMT-leaning "China Times" [circulation: 
200,000] (12/23): 
 
"... Ever since the tensions across the Taiwan Strait began to ease, 
fundamental changes have occurred in relations between the United 
States and China.  Given that the chances for military conflict 
between Washington and Beijing over Taipei have been eliminated, [it 
is likely that] the United States and China will cooperate more 
with, rather than compete against, each other.  Yet new and 
unprecedentedly complicated changes have arisen in terms of 
U.S.-China relations in the wake of the onslaught of the financial 
tsunami, with some bilateral issues easy to resolve while others are 
not, depending on the political considerations of the moment. 
 
"The new [cross-Strait] direction adopted by the Ma Ying-jeou 
administration has freed Taiwan from being sandwiched between the 
United States and China, which are hostile toward each other.  But 
as the ten economic incentives were announced at the [recently 
concluded] forum between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party, 
and as Taiwan is about to strengthen its economic and trade 
relations with mainland China, Taiwan has again fallen into a new 
dilemma -- namely, is Taiwan buying insurance as a preventive 
measure against [possible] economic depression in the United, or has 
it been unconsciously dragged into the unpredictable economic 
conflicts between the United States and China?  This is a question 
that Taiwan needs to calmly contemplate." 
 
YOUNG