VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #1247 2930959
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 200959Z OCT 09
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2517
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 9441
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0855

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001247 
 
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 
 
¶1. Summary:  Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused news 
coverage October 20 on the Taiwan government's plan to impose energy 
taxes starting in 2011; on President Ma Ying-jeou's remarks on 
cross-Strait relations during his interview with Reuters Monday; and 
on the year-end city mayors' and country magistrates' elections in 
Taiwan.  Both the pro-unification "United Daily News" and the 
KMT-leaning "China Times" carried news stories saying incumbent U.S. 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki is expected to visit 
Taiwan in 2010, a move which the newspapers believe to be "a symbol 
of the warming ties between the United States and Taiwan." 
 
¶2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, a news analysis in the 
pro-independence "Liberty Times" commented on President Ma's 
interview with Reuters and said that recognizing Taiwan's 
independent sovereignty would be better than removing the missiles 
targeting Taiwan, if both sides of the Taiwan Strait were to 
negotiate a peace pact.  An editorial in the pro-independence, 
English-language "Taipei Times" discussed a missile test conducted 
by Taiwan's military in southern Taiwan last Tuesday, and the 
alleged "leak" of the information about the test.  The article 
suspected that the "leak" was meant to "downplay the importance of 
the test and ensure that cross-strait talks on economic 
liberalization can continue apace."  End summary. 
 
A) "Recognizing [Taiwan's] Independent Sovereignty Would Be Better 
Than Removing the Missiles" 
 
Journalist Lo Tien-ping noted in an analysis in the pro-independence 
"Liberty Times" [circulation: 680,000] (10/20): 
 
"During an interview with Reuters on October 19, President Ma 
Ying-jeou raised a two-stage doctrine of 'removing the missiles 
[targeting Taiwan] first before both sides negotiate a peace 
agreement.'  He also indicated that he would not exclude the 
possibility of meeting with [Chinese President] Hu Jintao.  But 
given the rapid changes going on in cross-Strait relations, the 
prerequisite for Ma's remarks on 'removing the missiles' was 
obviously obsolete.  If both sides of the Taiwan Strait were to 
negotiate a peace pact, its prerequisite should be that China must 
publicly announce that Taiwan is an independent sovereign state. 
Only when both sides are standing on an equal footing will the talks 
over a peace pact have significance, and in that way Taiwan's 
interests will be safeguarded. ..." 
 
B) "Missiles, Leaks and Really Odd Timing" 
 
The pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" [circulation: 
30,000] editorialized (10/20): 
 
"The timing of a major missile test at Jioupeng base, Pingtung 
County, last Tuesday, could not have been more unusual, coming a 
little more than a week before Taipei and Beijing were to launch 
informal talks on a trade pact. ...  The fact that a missile test on 
this scale was held at all under a Ma administration that seeks, 
above all, better relations with China, and at a time when the two 
sides are on the brink of signing trade pacts, is itself striking. 
Failure or not, it is difficult to reconcile the timing with Ma's 
'pragmatic' approach to cross-strait relations. 
 
"Though it is shrouded in secrecy, it is hard to imagine that the 
test would have gone unnoticed by the US and China. Despite 
Washington's opposition to Taiwan's acquiring or developing 
offensive weapons -- which the HF-2E is -- we can assume that the US 
military, which maintains close ties with the Taiwanese military 
apparatus, was informed beforehand, perhaps during the US-Taiwan 
Defense Industry Conference in Virginia late last month, or at the 
Transnational Security Cooperation course provided by the 
Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, a US-funded think tank 
based in Hawaii, earlier this year.  Such a test would also have 
been difficult to hide from China.  Despite the remoteness of the 
base, which is located in the southeastern part of the country, such 
missiles would be picked up by Chinese radar.  The plan, therefore, 
appears to have been to keep the test secret and to avoid publicity 
lest it derail the careful, albeit precarious, balancing act 
engineered by Taipei, Beijing and Washington. ..." 
 
"While leaks are nothing new in the military, whistle-blowers 
usually make classified information public for a reason. In this 
case, given the sensitive nature and timing of the test, it is 
conceivable that the originator of the leak meant to put a spoke in 
the wheel of cross-strait negotiations, which have proceeded despite 
public apprehension. ...  Many questions remain. Did the test really 
fail, as the military tells us, or is this information, which 
contradicts initial reports of a success, meant to downplay the 
importance of the test and ensure that cross-strait talks on 
economic liberalization can continue apace?" 
 
STANTON