VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #0574 1330818
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 130818Z MAY 09
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1564
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 9177
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0609

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000574 
 
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. AND TAIWAN'S STATUS 
 
Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused May 13 
news coverage on the Taiwan government's decision to open up 99 
sectors in manufacturing, services and public works to Chinese 
investment; on whether Taiwan's representative to the U.S. Jason 
Yuan received U.S. permanent residency; and on the first anniversary 
of the Ma Ying-jeou Administration.  In terms of editorials and 
commentaries, an op-ed piece in the pro-independence, 
English-language "Taipei Times," written by John Tkacik, a retired 
U.S. Foreign Service Officer, discussed the recent remarks by a 
Japanese representative to Taiwan on the island's "undetermined" 
status and the U.S. government's position on this issue.  The 
article concluded by saying that "[I]n the end, a doctrine of 
Taiwan's 'undetermined' status is the only formulation under 
international law that might permit Taiwan to exist separately from 
the PRC. It is the only formula that permits the major democracies 
of the world -- the US, Japan, the UK, Canada and Australia, to name 
a few -- to maintain their support of Taiwan's democracy in the face 
of Chinese accusations of 'gross interference in China's domestic 
affairs.'"  End summary. 
 
"Taiwan's 'Undetermined' Status" 
 
John Tkacik, a retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer and former chief 
of China intelligence at the State Department's Bureau of 
Intelligence and Research in the first Clinton Administration, 
opined in the pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" 
[circulation: 30,000] (5/13): 
 
"It is hard to believe that retired ambassador Saito Masaki, head of 
the Japan Interchange Association (JIA), Tokyo's de facto embassy in 
Taipei, would deliver himself of so profound a 'personal' 
observation as 'Taiwan's status is unsettled' without instructions 
from his government. With the Taipei government increasingly 
inclined to define Taiwan as China's sovereign territory, it's no 
wonder Japan is alarmed. Taiwanese themselves should be alarmed. 
Taiwan's post-World War II 'undetermined' international status, an 
explicit artifact of the San Francisco Peace Treaty, is after all 
the metaphysical nucleus of Japan's relationship with Taiwan.  It is 
the core precept in the US' relationship with Taiwan as well. ... 
 
"Americans make similar 'misstatements,' but not so elegantly or so 
well thought-out. In August 2007, Dennis Wilder, then US president 
George W. Bush's senior Asia adviser, allowed his tongue to slip in 
a direction just the opposite of Saito's -- but botched it 
completely: 'Taiwan, or the Republic of China,' he stammered, 'is 
not at this point a state in the international community.'  He then 
confused the issue by adding: 'The position of the United States 
government is that the ROC -- Republic of China -- is an issue 
undecided, and it has been left undecided, as you know, for many, 
many years.' Wrong, wrong, and (oh my!) wrong again.  The 'Republic 
of China' does not exist in US eyes. The PRC succeeded the ROC as 
'China.' As far as the US government is concerned, there is only one 
China and the PRC is China's sole legal government. Period. There is 
nothing 'undecided' about the US position on the 'ROC' at all, I'm 
afraid. ... 
 
"Ironically, shortly before Wilder's infelicitous utterance, 
Taiwan's 'undetermined' status was restated strongly and 
authoritatively by US diplomats to UN Under-Secretary-General for 
Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe, who presumably needed no reminding 
since he had once served as director of the American Institute in 
Taiwan. ...  Taiwanese should be comforted. The US government is 
(still) willing to stick its neck out and remind the UN of Taiwan's 
'undetermined' status; and Japan's ambassador Saito is willing to 
draw fire to remind the Taiwanese people of their 'undetermined' 
status. They do not engage in this behavior merely for the fun of 
belaboring the minutiae of international law left over from the San 
Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951. They do it to remind the Taiwanese 
people that the Chinese civil war is over, and that the communists 
won. There is no rational excuse for Taiwan's government to continue 
the fiction that it is the government of all China, or to pronounce 
that Taiwan's interpretation of 'one China' is -- as President Ma 
Ying-jeou has postulated -- the ROC. ... 
 
"In the end, a doctrine of Taiwan's 'undetermined' status is the 
only formulation under international law that might permit Taiwan to 
exist separately from the PRC. It is the only formula that permits 
the major democracies of the world -- the US, Japan, the UK, Canada 
and Australia, to name a few -- to maintain their support of 
Taiwan's democracy in the face of Chinese accusations of 'gross 
interference in China's domestic affairs.' Saito's gentle reminder 
that Japan -- at least -- still does not recognize China's sovereign 
claims to Taiwan was indeed his 'personal opinion' -- but it is also 
that of the Japanese government -- and the US government as well. 
Taiwan's government and ruling party must not make it more difficult 
for the world's democracies to support Taiwan than it already is." 
 
YOUNG