VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #1787 3660429
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 310429Z DEC 08
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0635
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 8822
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0283

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001787 
 
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 RELATIONS 
 
Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused December 
31 news coverage on the legal cases involving former President Chen 
Shui-bian, who was detained again on corruption charges on December 
30; on Legislator Diane Lee, who quit the KMT on the evening of 
December 30 in the midst of questions about her citizenship; on 
President Ma Ying-jeou's interviews with a Taiwan TV station and 
with the "Yahoo! Kimo" website, respectively; and on Taiwan's bid to 
seek World Health Assembly observer status in 2009.  In terms of 
editorials and commentaries, a column in the conservative, 
pro-unification, English-language "China Post" discussed the future 
U.S.-China relations after U.S. President-elect Barack Obama takes 
over the helm in 2009.   The article urged the incoming Obama 
administration to "give greater recognition of China's role in the 
coming decades" as the U.S.-China relationship "is perhaps the key 
relationship that the United States must sustain if Obama is to 
achieve success in virtually all his other foreign policy priority 
areas."  End summary. 
 
"China Needs More U.S. Recognition" 
 
Columnist Frank Ching wrote in the conservative, pro-unification, 
English-language "China Post" [circulation: 30,000] (12/31): 
 
"... But the next [U.S.] president must recognize that China is not 
just a relationship to be managed.  It is perhaps the key 
relationship that the United States must sustain if Obama is to 
achieve success in virtually all his other foreign policy priority 
areas.  In the 21st century, there is no relationship more important 
to the United States.  This does not mean that Washington can give 
up its network of alliances in Europe and in Asia.  Those alliances 
are important.  But Washington must give greater recognition of 
China's role in the coming decades. ... 
 
""An Obama administration will certainly understand that the 
U.S.-China bilateral relationship is a complex web of relationships, 
and the overall relationship cannot be held hostage to any one 
strand of it, no matter how important.  This is because in the 21st 
century, cooperation between Washington and Beijing is vital, not 
just for those two countries but for the rest of the world as well. 
...  The coming Obama administration should demonstrate that it is 
willing to treat China with greater dignity.  One demonstration of 
this new attitude would be an early visit to Beijing by a newly 
installed President Obama.  Another dramatic move would be to offer 
to cooperate with China in a space mission.  At a time when a 
Chinese astronaut has staged the country's first space walk and when 
interest in space is re-emerging in the United States, a joint space 
venture would not only demonstrate American respect for Chinese 
technology but could also capture the imagination of the world as to 
just what is possible if these two countries work together." 
 
YOUNG