VZCZCXYZ1500
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #1203 2791000
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 061000Z OCT 09
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2446
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 9420
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0838

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001203 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/P, EAP/PD - THOMAS HAMM 
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-CHINA-TAIWAN RELATIONS 
 
Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused news 
coverage October 6 on the aftermath of Typhoon Parma, which brought 
heavy rain to the northern and eastern parts of the island; and on 
the joint rescue operations conducted by both sides of the Taiwan 
Strait to search for and rescue the crew of a Panama-registered 
cargo ship sinking off Taiwan's outlying Penghu Islands Monday.  In 
terms of editorials and commentaries, an editorial in the 
pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" discussed the rise 
of China and its relations with other nations.  The article said 
U.S. President Barack Obama's giving "the cold shoulder" to Tibetan 
leader the Dalai Lama "sends the wrong signal," indicating that 
Obama "too, is willing to kowtow before the Chinese emperor."  End 
summary. 
 
"Obama Blinks, Freedom Suffers" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" [circulation: 
30,000] editorialized (10/6): 
 
"... For obvious reasons, China should be embraced as a major 
developing nation and given a place at the table that is 
commensurate with its importance. It is in no one's interest, 
however, to inflate Beijing's sense of importance. What China needs 
as it continues its rise is a degree of humility, but this will only 
develop if other nations maintain their dignity.  When US President 
Barack Obama gives Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama the cold shoulder 
(the first time since 1991 that a US president will not meet the 
spiritual leader while he is in Washington) lest meeting him anger 
Chinese President Hu Jintao ahead of the Obama-Hu meeting next 
month, it sends the wrong signal. If there is one place where the 
president of the most powerful country in the world should do as he 
chooses, it is on US soil. 
 
"The same could be said of President Ma Ying-jeou, who snubbed the 
Dalai Lama during his trip to Taiwan last month, or of Taiwan's -- 
and now perhaps New Zealand's -- refusal to allow Uighur rights 
activist Rebiya Kadeer to visit.  China's rise is extraordinary, if 
not unprecedented. But there is nothing supernatural about it, nor 
is it a symbol of superiority -- Han Chinese chauvinism 
notwithstanding. China's rise also comes at great cost: grave human 
rights violations, environmental degradation and support for 
repressive regimes.  The more accommodating the world is to 
Beijing's sense of superiority, and the more it tries not to anger 
China, the greater China's tendency will be to regard itself as 
above criticism.  There is no reason why Obama should not meet the 
Dalai Lama. Unless he, too, is willing to kowtow before the Chinese 
emperor." 
 
STANTON