VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #0474/01 1100942
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 200942Z APR 09
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1420
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 9126
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0561

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000474 
 
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. IMAGE, U.S.-CHINA-TAIWAN RELATIONS 
 
¶1. Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused their 
April 18-20 news coverage on the third round of negotiations between 
Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China's Association 
for Relations across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), which is slated for 
April 26 in Nanjing; on the Boao Forum held on Hainan Island, China 
last Thursday and Friday; and on the disappointing performance New 
York Yankees Taiwan pitcher Wang Chien-ming over the weekend.  In 
terms of editorials and commentaries, a column in the 
pro-unification "United Daily News" discussed the Summit of the 
Americas and the change in the United States' relations with other 
countries, as shown by U.S. President Barack Obama's holding out an 
olive branch to Cuba.  The article said that with Washington's 
promise that "the United States will no longer be the big boss," 
there lies the opportunity for reconciliation.  An editorial in the 
pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News," on the other hand, 
discussed U.S.-China-Taiwan relations and criticized the allegedly 
misleading remarks by Taiwan's representative to the U.S. Jason Yuan 
at the Legislative Yuan last week.  The article said that 
"Washington should take care to avoid being used by the KMT 
government as a tool to legitimize a policy that may not necessarily 
be welcomed by the majority of the Taiwan people and which may 
compromise US interests in the East Asia region."  End summary. 
 
¶2. U.S. Image 
 
"No Longer Is the United States the Big Boss" 
 
The "Black and White" column in the pro-unification "United Daily 
News" [circulation: 400,000] wrote (4/20): 
 
"... [Former U.S. President George W. Bush] constantly met with 
protests and shoe-tossing [incidents] during his visits to other 
countries; President Barack Obama, by contrast, has been quite 
popular wherever he has gone.  The reason lies in the fact that 
Obama's viewpoint of peace can bring beautiful imagination to the 
international community.  At least, the big boss who used to be 
arrogant and bossy has changed both in his tone and posture. ... 
 
"Cuba has been a [fish] bone in the United States' throat of 
democracy.  The brutal sanctions [of the United States] over the 
past century has suppressed Cuba's development, but the United 
States' notoriety as being 'a bogus democracy, and a hegemony in 
reality' has been following it like a shadow all the time.  It all 
depends on Cuba's reactions as to whether or not it will accept the 
small olive branch that Obama has proffered.  Even though Cuba was 
not able to attend the Summit [of the Americas], it remained a 
widely discussed topic in the summit.  Cuba's absence had made 
Washington feel all the more the pain of the spine in its throat. 
It goes without saying that Obama wants to pull out the [fishbone], 
so he said, 'I am not here to talk about the past; I am here to talk 
about the future.' 
 
"Only one without historical burdens can speak of the future in such 
a relaxing way.  The fifty-year-old grudges between the United 
States and Cuba, and the thirty-decade-long new hatred on top of old 
between the United States and Iran, including all the imbroglio of 
terrorism with the Muslim World, will likely open a new era of 
reconciliation in the hands of Obama.  Surely it will not be an easy 
process, but with the promise that 'the United States will no longer 
be the big boss,' there lies the opportunity for reconciliation." 
 
 
¶3. U.S.-China-Taiwan Relations 
 
"U.S. Must Be Impartial in Taiwan Politics" 
 
The pro-independence "Taiwan News" [circulation: 20,000] 
editorialized (4/20): 
 
"The role of the United States in cross-strait affairs and Taiwan 
politics has always been sensitive and ambiguous.  Under the 30-year 
old Taiwan Relations Act, Washington has the obligation to assist 
Taiwan sustain economic prosperity, consolidate its human rights and 
democracy and bolster its own self-defense capability against 
possible attack by the authoritarian People's Republic of China, 
which claims Taiwan as its territory.  The U.S. official line 
suggests no support for Taiwan independence, opposition to the use 
of force by Beijing against Taipei, encouragement of dialogue across 
the Taiwan Strait, the peaceful resolution of any disputes between 
Taiwan and the PRC and no interference in cross-strait affairs 
unless there is a military crisis.  In practice, Washington has 
incorporated different strategies to influence Taiwan politics and 
cross-strait relations, such as the dispatch of two aircraft carrier 
task forces to waters near Taiwan to deter Beijing's missile tests 
in the run-up to Taiwan's first direct presidential election in 
March 1996 to public statements made by Bush administration 
officials in late 2007 opposing referendums held early last year 
under the then Democratic Progressive Party government. 
 
"The use or misuse by Taiwan leaders of previous Kuomintang and DPP 
governments of the positions of the U.S. government for partisan 
purposes has often bred mistrust between Taipei and Washington.  An 
example occurred last week when Jason Yuan, Taiwan's representative 
to Washington D.C, told reporters that more than one U.S. official 
had told him that the signing of a cross-strait economic cooperation 
framework agreement (ECFA) would make it easier to push for a free 
trade agreement (FTA) between Taiwan and the U.S.  By spinning a 
small portion of comments made by U.S. officials into support by 
Washington for the controversial ECFA agenda of the Ma government, 
Yuan showed that the restored KMT government is no less apt to 'use 
diplomacy for domestic purposes' than its predecessor. ... 
 
"Yuan, who is charged with the duty of representing the Taiwan 
government and all of the 23 million Taiwan people and with the 
reinforcing U.S.-Taiwan ties in a non-partisan way, should not 
repeat the alleged errors of the Chen administration of listening to 
a small number of U.S. officials and should instead ensure that any 
information he receives reflects an authoritative consensus from the 
top of the new Democratic administration of President Barack Obama. 
Third, Yuan's statement that a cross-strait ECFA will pave the way 
for a U.S.-Taiwan FTA is misleading if not outright wrong. ... 
 
"Moreover, the Obama administration may be pleased with the recent 
if temporary stabilization of the cross-strait situation, but the 
U.S. government would be trampling in very troubled waters if it 
tried to boost Ma's domestic support for the sake of cross-strait 
policy in the face of the KMT administration's poor performance in 
economic and domestic affairs, including the tangible regression in 
human rights, judicial fairness and news freedom and the erosion of 
Taiwan's substantive dignity and autonomy. ...  Washington should 
take care to avoid being used by the KMT government as a tool to 
legitimize a policy that may not necessarily welcomed by the 
majority of the Taiwan people and which may compromise US interests 
in the East Asian region.  Hence, if any Taiwan official misquotes 
or misinterprets U.S. positions, Washington should not be shy about 
issuing prompt and public clarifications. In sum, Washington should 
respect Taiwan's democratic process and debate on crucial 
cross-strait policy and remain impartial in Taiwan internal 
politics." 
 
YOUNG