VZCZCXYZ0007
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #0237/01 0630932
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 040932Z MAR 09
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1049
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 8989
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0439

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000237 
 
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-JAPAN RELATIONS, SECRETARY OF 
STATE CLINTON'S POLICY ON TAIWAN 
 
¶1. Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused March 4 
news coverage on the Taipei District Court's decision to extend 
former President Chen Shui-bian's detention; on former First Lady Wu 
Shu-chen's appearance in a pre-trial hearing; and on the controversy 
surrounding Ma Ying-jeou administration's insistence on signing an 
Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China. 
 
¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, a column in the 
centrist, KMT-leaning "China Times" criticized a suggestion proposed 
by George Washington University Professor David Shambaugh of holding 
a summit among the United States, China and Japan.  The column said 
the three countries have their own interests and concerns in 
different issues, such as the North Korea nuclear issue, Iran, 
Afghanistan, the global financial crisis and the Sino-U.S. 
historical complex.  It is difficult to make the three countries 
cooperate because it is impossible to accommodate the three's 
interests.  An op-ed in the pro-independence, English-language 
"Taipei Times" criticized United States Secretary of State Hillary 
Clinton for lacking "her predecessors' experience or gravitas."  The 
op-ed made allegations based on sources in the State Department, 
that Clinton realized she "screwed up" by making remarks suggesting 
that she dismissed the need to push Taiwan issues during her visit 
to China.  End summary. 
 
¶3. U.S.-China-Japan Relations 
 
"A Mechanism for Trilateral Negotiation among the United States, 
China and Japan Is Imagination" 
 
The "International Lookout" column in the centrist, KMT-leaning 
"China Times" [circulation: 150,000] wrote: 
 
"Professor David Shambaugh of the United States' George Washington 
University once suggested to the United States government that the 
Obama Administration consider holding a summit among the United 
States, China and Japan once every one or two years.  The purpose 
[of the summit] would be to establish a mechanism of trilateral 
negotiation.  The concept is not bad, and would be helpful in 
stabilizing the situation in Asia.  However, it is something very 
difficult to achieve because the three countries have their own 
vital interests, which are impossible to accommodate jointly.  Thus 
it is difficult [for the three countries] to cooperate seriously. 
... 
 
"It may well be asked that when the leaders of the three parties sit 
together to discuss Asian issues, what issues are they going to talk 
about?  [Are they going to talk about] the Taiwan issue? The 
Diaoyutai issue? The Korean Peninsula issue? The East China Sea 
issue?  Japan's 'Northern Territory' issue?  The South China Sea 
issue?  Do the three parties have common interests among these 
issues?  In the last few days, the positions that China and Japan 
took on the Diaoyutai Islands and the United States' ambiguous 
attitude are ample proof of this." 
 
¶4. Secretary of State Clinton's Policy on Taiwan 
 
"Watching and Waiting for Hillary" 
 
Charles Snyder, a former Washington correspondent for the 
pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times," opined in the 
"Taipei Times" [circulation: 30,000] (3/4): 
 
"US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has a big mouth, and 
she has put her foot in it many times over the years.  She did it 
again last month when she dismissed the need to push Taiwan issues 
during her maiden voyage to Beijing as the US' top diplomat. 
 
"Speaking to reporters in Seoul just before she flew to China, 
Clinton made it clear that Taiwan, along with Tibet and China's 
human rights violations generally, would be lost in the shuffle as 
she and Chinese leaders talked about other things. 
 
"She would not press China on Taiwan and the other areas of 
disagreement between Washington and Beijing because 'we pretty much 
know what they're going to say,' she told the reporters traveling 
with her around East Asia. 
 
"'We know what they're going to say because I've had those 
conversations for more than a decade with Chinese leaders, and we 
know what they're going to say about Taiwan and military sales, and 
they know what we're going to say,' she said. ... 
 
"Former secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell also 
knew what China would say about Taiwan during their meetings, but 
they never dismissed Taiwan's interests and security publicly 
because of that.  To do so, they well knew, would be interpreted by 
the Chinese leaders as signals of backsliding on Taiwan, which could 
be used in Beijing's propaganda against Taipei. 
 
 
"But Clinton does not have either of her predecessors' experience or 
gravitas.  She is, after all, a politician who is a novice at the 
international diplomacy game.  She was chosen by US President Barack 
Obama as much for her political clout, especially among women's 
groups, as for her global issues skills. 
 
"We are told by sources with insights into the State Department's 
East Asia bureau that after she uttered her remarks and they were 
reported in the media, Clinton immediately realized that she screwed 
up, to borrow Obama's expression.  She did not mean to belittle 
Taiwan or leave Taiwan to the wolves, department officials have said 
to others. 
 
"She did not mean 'Who cares?' about Taiwan, Tibet or human rights, 
they said.  They added that her comments were parallel to her 
statements during the trip that economic sanctions against the 
repressive Myanmar regime have not worked and that a new approach is 
needed. 
 
"What such a new approach would mean in terms of Taiwan is not at 
all clear. ... 
 
"Observers say there will be no return to the Taiwan policy of 
Clinton's husband and former president, Bill, many of whose policies 
were distasteful to Taiwanese as he pushed to improve relations with 
China amid strained cross-strait relations. 
 
"But Obama's administration is piled high with former Clinton 
administration Asia policy stalwarts, who presumably hold much the 
same ideas they did when they helped establish that earlier policy. 
One would hope that they have matured since then. 
 
"Taiwan and the world have yet to see what the current president, 
and the current State Department under Clinton, have on their plate 
as they decide on actions crucial to the fate of Taiwan and its 
people.  Stay tuned." 
 
YOUNG