P 150839Z DEC 08
FM AMCONSUL HONG KONG
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6456
INFO WHITE HOUSE WASHDC
USDOC WASHDC
AMEMBASSY BEIJING 
AMCONSUL SHANGHAI
AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 
AIT TAIPEI 0133
CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS HONG KONG 002248 
 
 
DEPT FOR INR/R/MR, INR/IC/CD, I/FW 
DEPT FOR EAP/PD, EAP/CM, EAP/P 
DEPT FOR VOA/BRF, TV-WPA 
WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC 
PRC POSTS FOR PA 
AIT 
USPACOM FOR FOR CIS PD ADVISER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: US AUTO INDUSTRY; DIRECT LINKS BETWEEN 
MAINLAND CHINA AND TAIWAN 
 
TOPIC: 
¶1. US auto industry 
¶2. Direct links between mainland China and Taiwan 
 
HEADLINES AND EXCERPTS: 
 
¶1. US auto industry 
 
"Next time, put both hands on wheel of the economy" 
 
The independent English-language South China Morning Post said in an 
editorial (12/14):  "Hard-line Republicans in the United States have 
succeeded in blocking, for now, a US$14 billion rescue for the 
Detroit carmakers. This is likely to be the free-market dogmatists' 
last stand....The financial crisis has not only forced Washington, 
but other western governments, to decide which industries to save 
and which to get to. When the dust settles, many will own a 
portfolio of nationalized financial institutions. They will, in many 
cases reluctantly, have extended their tentacles into large segments 
of their economies. And having completed the bailouts, they will 
have appointed powerful 'Tsars' and imposed tough regulations on the 
industries they have decided to save. This is industrial policy by 
default. 
 
"Throughout the go-go years that have just ended, free-market 
ideologues derided state-directed industrial policies as the 
misguided efforts of developing countries to expand their economies. 
Now, as a result of the financial crisis, it has become the economic 
policy of choice in the west-but it dares not speak its name....Many 
developing nations have tried to build their way into an economic 
boom, often with bridges to nowhere and buildings vacant. India and 
the mainland are still doing it now. It looks like the US will join 
their ranks. Any why not, considering the US banking industry, and 
its lax regulation, have begot an epic financial crisis which has 
infected key economies? This has long been a specialty of 
boom-and-bust economies of the developing world. But there is a 
silver lining. The history of economic success in Asia and elsewhere 
has usually involved the highly visible hand of the state, rather 
than the much-touted invisible hand of the free market. In reality, 
it rarely ever works with just one or the other. Success usually 
involves the judicious use of both hands. After this crisis, the 
rule book of economic development will have to be rewritten for the 
21st century." 
 
¶2. Direct links between mainland China and Taiwan 
 
"New era in ties" 
 
The pro-Beijing English-language China Daily Hong Kong Edition had 
this editorial (12/15):"The launch of the three direct links has 
again demonstrated that putting differences aside, both sides can 
build mutual trust....The results are the efforts of almost 30 years 
of talks by both sides, and most importantly, of trust and 
goodwill. 
 
"The launch of regular direct transport and postal services across 
the Straits has again demonstrated that putting differences aside, 
both sides can build mutual trust, offer goodwill to each other and 
solve long-standing dispute in cross-Straits relations....The 
benefit is more than that, as both the mainland and Taiwan are 
fighting to minimize the effects of the global financial crisis. 
 
"Smoother movement of cargoes and people will further integrate the 
two economies and create more jobs....With the establishment of the 
direct links as a beginning, the mainland and Taiwan should expand 
mutual trust and good will to other sectors and put aside political 
and ideological differences to ensure long-term stability." 
 
MARUT