VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #0785/01 1800939
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 290939Z JUN 09
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1857
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 9268
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0702

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000785 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/P, EAP/PD - NIDA EMMONS 
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: U.S. BEEF, U.S.-TAIWAN RELATIONS 
 
¶1. Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused their 
June 27-29 news coverage on the sudden death of Michael Jackson last 
Thursday; on the arrest of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya by the 
Honduran military Sunday and its impact on President Ma Ying-jeou's 
upcoming trip to Central America; and on AIT Director Stephen 
Young's press conference Friday, in which he talked about Taiwan's 
plan to open its market to U.S. beef.  The pro-independence "Liberty 
Times" front-paged a banner headline June 27, reading "U.S. Beef 
Will Be Fully Imported [to Taiwan] at the End of June at the 
Latest." 
 
¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, a column in the 
mass-circulation "Apple Daily" discussed the import of U.S. beef and 
urged the Taiwan authority not to ease its import criteria in 
exchange for President Ma's transit stops in the States.  An 
editorial in the pro-unification "United Evening News" also said 
that U.S. beef is not merely an issue concerning the Taiwan people's 
livelihood; rather, the article said, it is related to the public's 
mentality of "the government safeguarding its citizens' interests." 
The article concluded by saying the public will not support it if 
the Taiwan government bows to U.S. trade pressure and fully open its 
market to U.S. beef.  An editorial in the pro-independence, 
English-language "Taipei Times," however, argued that "there is no 
valid reason for the Taiwanese government to extend its ban on U.S. 
beef" and that "senseless bans on U.S. products do nothing to help 
Taiwan-U.S. ties."  With regard to U.S.-Taiwan relations, an "Apple 
Daily" op-ed discussed Taiwan's foreign relations with other 
countries under the Ma administration.  The article cited AIT 
Director Young's description of U.S.-Taiwan relations using Bob 
Dylan's song "Blowing in the Wind" as saying that Taiwan's is facing 
a crisis of diplomatic collapse.  An editorial in the 
pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" said that "simply 
because the Ma administration is avoiding causing short-term 
difficulties for Washington does not mean that the Ma 
administration's China-centric tilt will not bring unwelcome 
'surprises' for long-term and fundamental American political and 
security interests. ..."  End summary. 
 
¶3. U.S. Beef 
 
A) "Beef That [We] Don't Want to Eat" 
 
The "Spicy Apple" column in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily" 
[circulation: 520,000] wrote (6/27): 
 
"[AIT Director] Stephen Young, who is about step down from his 
position, said in his last press conference before departing Taiwan 
for the United States that Taiwan's full opening of its market to 
U.S. beef 'is very close to success.'  Despite the Department of 
Health's denial afterwards that [the issue] has been settled, it is 
worrisome to see whether Taiwan officials will be able to resist the 
United States' open imposition of pressure [on Taiwan].  The United 
States often takes advantage of its superiority as a world 
superpower to promote its various products with great strength. 
Taiwan relies deeply on the United States, no matter whether it is 
in the field of national defense, foreign relations or economics. 
The Big Boss United States' constant pressure must have been a 
headache for the [previous Chen Shui-] Bian administration and must 
be so for the Ma administration. 
 
"But given the fear of mad cow disease, the government should stand 
firm by its criteria and not randomly ease its import standards no 
matter how tasty U.S. beef is.  This is the minimum request of the 
public for food safety. ...  Ma Ying-jeou is about to transit the 
United States again, but he should not let go [of Taiwan's food 
control] easily just to 'return the favors' [of the United States]. 
One cannot afford to make such a 'joke!'" 
 
B) "U.S. Beef Must Be Safe and Worry-free for the People to Eat" 
 
The pro-unification "United Evening News" [circulation: 50,000] 
editorialized (6/27): 
 
"... Pro-U.S. [South Korean] President Lee Myung-bak carelessly 
agreed to import U.S. bone-in beef for the sake of a 
Washington-Seoul Free Trade Agreement and thus triggered huge chaos 
merely three months after he took office.  Similarly, Taiwan's 
public opinion will not easily let [the U.S. beef issue] pass, 
because it will indicate the collapse of two lines of defense: 
Namely, the failure to safeguard the health safety of [Taiwan's] 
citizens if [Taiwan] imports bone-in beef from areas infected with 
mad cow disease, its people will be exposed to the risk of 
contracting this disease.  What's more serious is the yielding of 
[Taiwan's] sovereignty, which will indicate that the [Taiwan] 
government is incapable of resisting U.S. pressure and is making 
concessions. 
 
"In other words, U.S. beef is not simply an issue concerning 
people's livelihood; it is related to the public's mentality of 'the 
 
government safeguarding its citizens' interests.'  The Ma 
administration [always] boasts that current Taiwan-U.S. relations 
are greatly improved over what they were previously.  But if it bows 
to U.S. trade pressure, then such 'diplomatic friendliness' at the 
expense of the citizens' interests will not be supported by the 
public.  U.S. beef may be tasty, but the government must act in 
accordance with scientific data and ensure that the public can eat 
[U.S. beef] safely and worry-free." 
 
C) "Unlikely Victims of a Beef Beat-up" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" [circulation: 
30,000] editorialized (6/27): 
 
"If there is one thing that can drag the director of the American 
Institute in Taiwan (AIT) out of his Xinyi Road office and into the 
media spotlight, it is this: stumping for the US beef industry. 
In recent years this has become a more pressing task, because for 
some years the Taiwanese government has had a ban in place on 
certain categories of US beef after isolated reports of mad cow 
disease emerged in the US.  The beef industry in the US is big 
business, so big in fact that Congress is willing to fork out 
indecently large amounts of taxpayer dollars to subsidize an 
industry with more political clout than economic merit. Those who 
aren't US beef farmers or politicians indebted to the beef lobby 
have little sympathy for an industry that has come to represent a 
lot of what is wrong with selective government assistance in the 
face of environmental degradation. 
 
"That said, there is no valid reason for the Taiwanese government to 
extend its ban on US beef. AIT Director Stephen Young was absolutely 
correct yesterday when he urged the government -- and by extension, 
the Taiwanese consumer -- to 'focus on the science and not the 
politics.'  The hesitancy of the government to lift the ban poses an 
intriguing problem: What does it have to fear when its own health 
authorities admit that the risk of contracting mad cow disease is 
extremely remote? ... 
 
"Political anxiety over US beef imports cannot be separated from the 
extraordinary displays of anger in South Korea against US beef, and 
the government possibly thinks it is easier to neutralize the 
hobby-horse of a few unctuous Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) 
politicians by closing down the debate rather than giving beef 
importers their due.  The problem for the DPP is that the beef 
debate is only wounding the party as it strives for greater 
credibility among voters. ...  Whatever the merits of the US beef 
industry, senseless bans on US products do nothing to help Taiwan-US 
ties. But opportunist attacks from a political party struggling to 
regain electoral credibility are more noteworthy: There is nothing 
to gain for the DPP by nailing its colors to the mast on such a 
ridiculous issue - and, once again, encouraging skeptics to argue 
that the party is too parochial, mischievous and inept to be 
entrusted with a popular mandate." 
 
¶4. U.S.-Taiwan Relations 
 
A) "Taiwan-U.S. Relations 'Gone with the Wind'" 
 
Lai I-chung, assistant professor at the Mackay Medicine, Nursing & 
Management College, opined in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily" 
[circulation: 520,000] (6/29): 
 
"The crisis over mutual trust between Taiwan and Japan caused by Ma 
Ying-jeou's new interpretation of the [1952] 'Sino-Japanese Peace 
Treaty' has yet to be resolved, and now there are reports saying 
that the Honduras ambassador to Taiwan was complaining about Taipei 
failing to fulfill its cooperation commitment [with Honduras].  Ma 
will travel to Central America twice in a month, including Panama, 
which is listed as one of China's allies on the website of China's 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Plus AIT Taipei Director Stephen 
Young, upon his departure, described Taiwan-U.S. relations with a 
well-known song by folk song singer Bob Dylan -- 'Blowing in the 
Wind.'  We can discover that over the past one year, Ma's 'modus 
vivendi' has totally exhausted Taiwan's remaining assets in the 
international community, and Taiwan is facing a crisis of diplomatic 
collapse. ... 
 
"We have discovered that in less than a year since Ma took office, 
he has ended up making our allies suspect Taiwan's sincerity in 
maintaining diplomatic ties, and there was this crisis over mutual 
trust between Taiwan and Japan, which has no diplomatic ties with 
Taiwan.  Now Taiwan's relations with the United States have been 
described by Young as 'gone with the wind.'  All these have nothing 
to do with China's suppression; instead, they were brought about by 
the Ma administration's own doing.  Taiwan's diplomatic collapse is 
something that [First Lady] Christine Chou's drumming cannot save!" 
 [Ed. The author of this piece has conflated Bob Dylan's "Blowing in 
the Wind," cited in this op-ed in English, with "Gone with the 
Wind."  The Chinese term for the epic Civil War movie is used 
 
elsewhere in the article.] 
 
B) "Obama Should Cherish Taiwan Democracy" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taiwan News" [circulation: 
20,000] editorialized (6/29): 
 
"... For nearly six months, the new Obama administration has adopted 
a conciliatory and multilateral diplomacy-oriented approach to 
handle world affairs that has contrasted starkly with the 
narrow-minded "America first" unilateralism of the former right-wing 
Republican George W. Bush administration, as shown by his moving 
appeal for dialogue with the Muslim world delivered in Cairo June 4. 
 In regard to the Taiwan Strait, the Obama administration has 
initially focused on encouraging peace and stability and has 
applauded the resumption of talks between the Chinese Communist 
Party-ruled People's Republic of China and Taiwan, now under the 
restored Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) administration of 
President Ma Ying-jeou. 
All responsible leaders, parties or political interests in Taiwan 
welcome reduced tensions in the Taiwan Strait, but most official and 
informal representatives of the Obama administration have 
unfortunately failed to perceive the underlying turbulent currents 
stirred up by what is essentially a rapprochement between an 
authoritarian regime and an "one party dominant" government at the 
expense of Taiwan's democracy, substantive independence and even the 
economic and social welfare of the majority of its people. ... 
 
"Despite the long-commitment of the Democratic Party to grassroots 
democratic values and human rights in Asia including Taiwan, so far 
the Obama administration has said nothing about these worrisome 
trends.  Nevertheless, American citizens concerned with Taiwan and 
Asian democracy have acted with alarm.  In the case of the overt 
engineering of the Taiwan Foundation of Democracy reshuffle by Ma's 
National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi, U.S. Congressman 
Robert Andrews urged Obama to express Washington's concerns toward 
Ma's sacrifice of Taiwan's democracy for closer relations with 
China, while the president of the National Endowment for Democracy 
wrote to Ma to convey the NED's anxiety that the changes would 
downplay the TFD's mission to help promote democratic change and the 
protection of human rights.  Continued silence by the Obama 
administration may encourage Ma and his one-party dominant KMT 
administration to take advantage of Washington's pleasure with eased 
tensions in the Taiwan Strait to carry out further undemocratic 
policies or actions with impunity. 
 
"Even though the U.S. needs the PRC's cooperation on numerous hot 
issues, Washington also still must strike a balance between engaging 
and hedging a rising authoritarian China from rolling back 
democratic and free governance in the rest of Asia and the 
maintenance of a vibrant democracy in Taiwan is essential for this 
mission.  Obama should keep in mind that simply because the Ma 
administration avoids causing short-term difficulties for Washington 
does not mean that its China-centric tilt will not bring unwelcome 
"surprises" for long-term and fundamental American political and 
security interests, not the least of which will be greater tension 
and growing lack of trust between Taipei and Tokyo. We remain 
confident that the majority of Taiwan people will do their best to 
safeguard their own democratic rights, but we are less and less 
convinced that the Ma government will truly respect Taiwan's 
democratic 'game rules.'  Therefore, we urge the Obama 
administration to solemnly affirm that democracy and human rights in 
Taiwan, as well as in China itself, are an important American and 
global interest and thereby help ensure that calm in the Taiwan 
Strait does not sacrifice the world's first Sinitic democracy." 
 
YOUNG