US embassy cable - 04TAIPEI3309

UNCLAS TAIPEI 003309 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/RSP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD - 
ROBERT PALLADINO 
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC, KMDR, KPAO, TW, Foreign Policy, Cross Strait Politics 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: SECRETARY POWELL'S BEIJING 
TRIP 
 
"[President Chen] Ruins [U.S. President] Bush's Big 
Plan, Forcing [Washington and Beijing to Strengthen the 
Mechanism] to Prevent [Taiwan] Independence and to Push 
for [Cross-Strait] Talks" 
 
Chen Yi-hsin, professor at the American Studies 
Institute of Tamkang University, said in an op-ed piece 
in the conservative, pro-unification "United Daily 
News" (10/21): 
 
"U.S. State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said 
recently that when Secretary of State Colin Powell 
meets with Chinese President Hu Jintao on October 25, 
he `expects to have an opportunity to respond to 
Beijing about U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.'  Boucher's 
remarks indicate that the Bush administration is 
displeased with the small tricks President Chen Shui- 
bian played [with] his National Day speech.  Boucher's 
remarks also show that Washington has decided to 
discuss with Beijing how to further strengthen an 
agreement reached between Vice President Dick Cheney 
and the Beijing leaders when [Cheney] visited China in 
April, in which both sides agreed to establish a 
mechanism to prevent Taiwan independence and to push 
for talks across the Taiwan Strait. 
 
"The main reason that Washington is displeased [with 
Taipei] is that other than the goodwill gesture, Taipei 
failed to report to the United States in advance about 
those negative remarks Chen made [in his National Day 
speech]. . 
 
"It is noteworthy that when meeting with the 
journalists in Washington in May, Powell confirmed that 
Washington and Beijing have started to work on 
resolutions to the Taiwan issue that is of mutual 
concern.  Powell's remarks have indirectly confirmed 
that a cooperative mechanism has been established 
between Washington and Beijing since Cheney's China 
visit in an attempt to prevent Taiwan from altering the 
status quo.  Nonetheless, the Bush administration has 
long been displeased about Taipei's refusal to listen 
to the United States' warnings and its insistence on 
the `secret independence' route.  Taipei toyed with the 
United States again this time using Chen's National Day 
speech, treating President Bush as a `lame duck' 
president.  This has, without doubt, pushed Washington 
to accelerate its pace of talking with Beijing on how 
to further strengthen their bilateral plan to prevent 
Taiwan independence and push for cross-Strait talks." 
 
PAAL