VZCZCXYZ0006
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #0454/01 1040938
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 140938Z APR 09
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1389
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 9114
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0552

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000454 
 
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: TAIWAN RELATIONS ACT 
 
¶1. Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused their 
April 11-13 news coverage on a series of government-organized events 
commemorating the 100th birthday of the late President Chiang 
Ching-kuo; on the developments in cross-Strait relations and the 
controversy over Taiwan's plan to sign the Economic Cooperation 
Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China: and on Taiwan's bid to become 
an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA) this year.  The 
centrist, KMT-leaning "China Times" front-paged a banner headline 
April 13 reading "Cross-Strait Consensus:  Taiwan to Join WHA as an 
Observer."  The pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" 
also front-paged a banner headline April 13 reading "US Campaigning 
to Get Taiwan WHA Seat." 
 
¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, the Taiwan Relations Act 
(TRA) remained the focus of several editorial pieces, as April 10 
marked its thirtieth anniversary.  An op-ed in the pro-independence 
"Liberty Times" criticized the KMT for working with the Chinese 
Communist Party (CCP) to render the TRA powerless.  The article 
posed the question as to what strategy Washington will come up with 
if the authorities in both Taipei and Beijing were to request 
jointly that the United States weaken or even abolish the TRA.  A 
separate "Liberty Times" op-ed cited a recent article by former AIT 
Chairman Richard Bush on the thirty-year-old TRA and criticized the 
China hands in Washington for allegedly looking down at the local 
leaders who insist on Taiwan's identity and labeling them as 
"sabotaging the status quo," and for allegedly smearing the 
democratic movements that challenge the one-China policy as 
"populist" movements.  An op-ed in the pro-unification "United Daily 
News" urged Taiwan to maintain and reinforce its influence on the 
United States and China when the two big countries are allegedly 
seeking to establish a coordination mechanism to manage the 
international system.  End summary. 
 
A) "KMT and CCP Work Together to Render the Taiwan Relations Act 
Powerless" 
 
Lo Chih-cheng, associate professor at Soochow University's 
Department of Political Science, opined in the pro-independence 
"Liberty Times" [circulation: 700,000] (4/11): 
 
"... One of the most important objectives of the Taiwan Relations 
Act (TRA) is to ensure peace, security and stability in the Taiwan 
Strait, and the Act also lays out the legal foundation and political 
commitment for the United States to provide Taiwan with defensive 
weapons.  It states clearly in the Act that any attempt to use 
'non-peaceful means' to resolve Taiwan's future will threaten peace 
and security in the Pacific [region] and will thus cause serious 
concern on the part of the United States. 
 
"The question is:  Both China's current strategic goals toward 
Taiwan and the core of the Ma Administration's mainland policy are 
aimed at pushing Taiwan's future toward the direction of unification 
step by step under the guise of peace, security and stability.  Such 
an approach of 'peacefully altering the status quo' and 'incremental 
style of unification,' however, has become an important matter that 
is difficult for the TRA to deal with in addition to coping with the 
'non-peaceful means.' ...  As a result, if what the world had been 
concerned about over the past few years was whether Washington would 
be willing to fulfill faithfully the regulations listed in the TRA, 
then the biggest test for TRA since Ma Ying-jeou assumed office 
would be whether Taipei is willing to await or further persuade 
Washington proactively to carry out its commitments as spelt out in 
the TRA. 
 
"The consistent argument of the Ma Administration is that it hopes 
that cross-Strait relations and Taiwan-U.S. relations can develop 
simultaneously.  But a key question that is unavoidable and that 
China will surely force Taiwan to face is:  If [Taiwan] were to make 
a zero-sum choice between cross-Strait relations and Taiwan-U.S. 
relations, what kind of policy decision would Ma make?  Given the Ma 
Administration's current strategic thinking of 'cross-Strait 
relations overriding everything else,' the answer is self-evident. 
The TRA, having been passed thirty years ago, is facing an 
unprecedented change in the [political] climate nowadays.  What 
Washington needs to ponder perhaps is not how to fulfill the Act, 
but what strategy it will adopt should the authorities of both 
Taipei and Beijing jointly request that the United States weaken or 
even abolish the TRA." 
 
B) "Taiwan's Democracy Disrupting the United States?" 
 
Lai I-chung, Executive Committee member of the Taiwan Thinktank, 
opined in the pro-independence "Liberty Times" [circulation: 
700,000] (4/13): 
 
"Prior to the thirtieth anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act 
(TRA), former AIT Chairman Richard Bush said in an article that he 
believes that the premise for the security commitments defined by 
the TRA was that governments of both Taiwan and the United States 
share a common strategic viewpoint.  Bush also cited Taiwan's 
democratization and the rise of China as two major factors that 
interfered with the two countries' [efforts] in maintaining their 
common strategic viewpoint. ... 
 
"Bush's article mentioned the two major factors that disrupt the 
United States and Taiwan [from sharing] a common strategic 
viewpoint, but the context of the article clearly points out that 
Taiwan's democratization was the factor, because it has generated 
the Taiwan identity [issue] and a 'new concept to ensure [Taiwan's] 
future.'  Such a practice of treating Taiwan's democracy as a 
problem rather than the precondition for resolving the problem is 
very common among the China hands in Washington D.C.  For example, 
Bush believes that 'with China's rise, the common interests shared 
between the United States and China have been increasing every day,' 
and [he] is worried that Taiwan's democracy will challenge the 
fundamental interests of the People's Republic of China, creating 
hurdles for U.S.-China cooperation.  These China hands look down at 
the [Taiwan] leaders who insist on Taiwan's identity [and label 
them] as those who seek to sabotage the status quo, and they smear 
the democratic [movements] that challenge the one-China [policy] as 
populist [movements]. ... 
 
"Taiwan is in no position to say anything about which strategy the 
United States should adopt, and Bush, who has an intimate 
relationship with the Obama Administration, also revealed in his 
article Washington's eager mentality to break away from Taiwan in 
order to befriend China.  Bush used to interact and sympathize with 
the opposition parties in Taiwan when the island was under the 
Martial Law.  Yet with Bush becoming like this, the attitudes of 
other China hands are quite evident. ...  Bush's article explained 
why, even though Taiwan's freedom and democracy are in regression, 
[AIT Chairman] Raymond Burghardt still endorsed the Ma 
Administration on behalf of the United States. ... 
 
C) "The Wax and Wane of the United States and China; [Taiwan's] 
Self-Protection Strategy Needs to Be Transformed Again" 
 
Chen Hsin-chih, Associate Professor of the Department of Political 
Science at National Cheng Kung University, opined in the 
pro-unification "United Daily News" [circulation: 400,000] (4/12): 
 
"Thirty years ago, at the time when the U.S.-China-Taiwan situation 
was disadvantageous to Taiwan, Taiwan helped to bring about the 
Taiwan Relations Act, which assured Taiwan's security and political 
and economic interests.  With a recent structural transformation of 
China and the United States walking toward a coordination mechanism, 
it is a top priority for Taiwan to establish actively its 
comprehensive influence on China's Taiwan policy in an attempt to 
assure Taiwan's overall interests in the future. ... 
 
"However, since there is already a structural change in terms of the 
comparative power between the United States and China, it is likely 
that the United States' goodwill toward Taiwan will end up like 
nothing but lip service.  Even if the United States takes unilateral 
actions favorable to Taiwan, the effects [of these actions] might be 
compromised significantly still.  Second, China and the United 
States' joint management of the international crises through a 
coordination mechanism will limit the possibility of Taiwan's 
adopting international means in order to maintain its national 
interests. ...  Third, Taiwan, on the periphery of the United States 
and China's sphere of influence, will definitely become an issue 
whenever the United States and China seek to define their sphere of 
influence and interest in the future. ..." 
 
YOUNG