VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #0103/01 0230430
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 230430Z JAN 09
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0815
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 8897
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0349

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000103 
 
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: OBAMA'S INAUGURATION 
 
Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused their 
January 23 news coverage on the World Health Organization's approval 
of the island's inclusion in the International Health Regulation; on 
Taiwan's unemployment rate, which hit a six-year high in December, 
2008; and on former President Chen Shui-bian's legal cases.  In 
terms of editorials and commentaries, an op-ed piece in the 
centrist, KMT-leaning "China Times" discussed U.S. President Barack 
Obama's inauguration and said the mythology of Obama's life story is 
actually a reaffirmation of the core values of the United States. 
An editorial in the pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" 
urged Obama to set aside "the outdated policies of the past" and say 
yes to "the right of the Taiwan people to safeguard our democratic 
independence and human rights. ..."  End summary. 
 
A) "Why Are American People Not Afraid?" 
 
Hu Ching-fang, a cultural and social commentator, opined in the 
centrist, KMT-leaning "China Times" [circulation: 150,000] (1/23): 
 
"... Yet at this moment, the American people need a president like 
Barack Obama, because the mythology of Obama's life story is in fact 
a reaffirmation of the core values of the United States.  With the 
U.S. prestige declining and U.S. economy going downhill in the wake 
of the depressing governance of the [former] Bush administration, 
the American people can hardly recognize who they are any more. 
Unlike other nations which reply on a certain ethnic culture as 
their nation-building foundation, the American people, consisting 
mainly of immigrants, build their identity on the common values they 
share, and on the many systems and laws established on such values. 
As a result, many ideals and values that look like clichs have been 
repeatedly all the time in different venues and at different time, 
including in the Hollywood movies and the inaugural speech of Obama. 
 Maintaining such universal values is to maintain the concept of the 
United States as a nation. 
 
"The American people do not bet on Obama but on themselves.  This 
person of a Kenyan father and a Kansas mother is now being raised up 
high as the best representative born of the cradle of the U.S. mixed 
cultures to help the American people to keep their faith.  Obama is 
not a savior, but he is definitely the perfect son of the American 
spirits. ... One who chooses to believe in himself surely has no 
fear for the future, even if it is a thorny one.  But the question 
is:  Taiwan people, are we afraid of our future?" 
 
B) "Obama, Taiwan and Hope for Change" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation: 
20,000] editorialized (1/23): 
 
"The inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as president of the United 
States on January 20 and swearing into office of his new Democratic 
administration launches a new era in American and global politics 
that begins with promise and hopes as well as doubts of whether the 
high expectations for the first African American head - of - state 
of the world`s sole superpower will be fulfilled. ...  Naturally, 
while the problems of East Asia are less urgent than the Iraq and 
Afghanistan wars, the global and U.S. economic crises and the 
Israeli attacks on Palestine's Gaza Strip, we hope that Obama and 
his Democratic administration will soon re-examine the question of 
peace in the Taiwan Strait and the future of Taiwan`s democracy. 
... 
 
"Moreover, Obama should realize that Taiwan's hard-won democracy was 
one the many examples of the sacrifice of American democratic ideals 
on the altar of the 'war on terror' as the former Bush 
administration, for the sake of 'security' and 'expediency,' joined 
with the authoritarian PRC regime in denying the right of Taiwan`s 
elected government to defend or deepen our existing democratic 
independence, even to the extent of promoting 'regime change' in a 
democratic ally.  We urge the new U.S. president to apply his 
rejection of the 'false choice' between America's safety and 
America's ideals by, at a minimum, reaffirming former Democratic 
president Bill Clinton's declaration of February 24, 2000 that the 
U.S. will 'make absolutely clear that the issues between Beijing and 
Taiwan must be resolved peacefully and with the assent of the people 
of Taiwan' to ensure lasting 'peace and dignity.' 
 
"Moreover, we hope Obama, as leader of the world's leading 
democracy, should make it clear to both KMT and CCP leaders that 
'peace' in the Taiwan Strait must not simply be an one-sided 
appeasement of a new PRC authoritarian hegemony and must not 
sacrifice the democratic rights of free choice and the dignity of 
Taiwan's 23 million people.  We urge Obama to set aside 'the 
outdated policies of the past,' such as Washington`s anachronistic 
'one China policy,' and boldly say 'Yes, we can' to the right of the 
Taiwan people to safeguard our democratic independence and human 
rights and safeguard our opportunity to strive for our dreams of 
being treated as equals in the international community and 
fulfilling our duties to the world, including acting as a catalyst 
for China's democratization." 
 
[Editor's Note: AIT will be closed for the Lunar New Year.  Our 
media products will suspend publication after January 23 and resume 
on February 2, 2009.] 
 
 
YOUNG