US embassy cable - 05TAIPEI2004

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 002004 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS AIT/W 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/03/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, TW, Cross Strait Politics 
SUBJECT: SOONG CONFIDANTE ON UPCOMING PRC VISIT 
 
REF: TAIPEI 01977 
 
Classified By: AIT Director Douglas Paal, Reason(s): 1.4 (B/D) 
 
1. (C) Summary:  PFP Chairman James Soong is reportedly under 
pressure from Chen Shui-bian's recent "revelations" of their 
private conversations and from KMT efforts to portray KMT 
Chairman Lien Chan's visit to the PRC as enjoying the backing 
of the United States.  While Soong is personally comfortable 
with the often unpredictable Chen, other Soong confidantes 
fear their Chairman is being "duped."  One of them requested 
the U.S. to temper its public support of Lien and offer 
similar gestures of support for Soong before he departs May 5 
for the PRC.  The PFP reportedly intends to plant a question 
with a sympathetic Taiwan reporter at the May 3 State 
Department press briefing and hopes the Department Spokesman 
will respond positively.  End Summary. 
 
PFP Panics, Soong Relaxed 
------------------------- 
 
2. (C) People First Party (PFP) Legislator Daniel Hwang 
(Yih-jiau) told AIT that President Chen Shui-bian's May 1 
revelation of his recent contacts with PFP Chairman James 
Soong has complicated and even marred Soong's impending PRC 
visit.  Hwang surmised that Chen's unilateral revelation was 
probably motivated by fear of being sidelined by the 
international and domestic attention on Lien's PRC visit, as 
well as a product of Chen's efforts to drive a wedge between 
the KMT and PFP and to siphon off Pan-Blue voters from the 
PFP in the May 14 National Assembly election.  Hwang noted 
that Soong had told him of his private telephone conversation 
with Chen but did not reveal the substance of that 
conversation.  Describing the setting of their conversation, 
Hwang told AIT that when he accompanied Soong on a trip to 
Yunlin County to visit the incarcerated former magistrate 
Chang Jung-wei, Soong took a small wooden box out of his 
pocket and told Hwang that it contained a tiny note with a 
direct hotline phone number to President Chen.  Hwang said he 
was bemused by Soong's "cuteness." 
 
3. (C) Hwang told AIT that Chen had advised Soong that he 
intended to make public their recent conversations, and that 
Soong opposed this but did not think he could stop Chen. 
Despite Chen's forewarning, Soong was still caught off guard 
when the news broke on May 2 and gave instructions for the 
PFP to downplay the contacts.  Accordingly, PFP Secretary 
General Chin Ching-sheng stressed to AIT that the reported 
April 20 Chen-Soong meeting was totally unplanned.  Chin 
explained that he had been in a meeting in the home of 
Presidential Office Secretary General Yu Shyi-kun discussing 
details of Soong's PRC trip when they came to a question 
requiring Chen's decision.  Yu telephoned Chen for an answer, 
but Chen responded that the issue could best be resolved if 
he and Soong met personally at Yu's home. 
 
4. (C) Hwang told AIT that while Soong personally feels 
comfortable working with Chen, Hwang and many other PFP 
leaders find it nerve wracking, fearing that Soong might be 
"duped" by Chen.  Given both Chen and Soong's volatile 
personalities, Hwang said he feels he is dealing with an 
unpredictable situation, like crossing a river blindly 
without knowing the depth.  For this reason, Hwang is trying 
to control media coverage of Soong's PRC trip in order to 
avoid having the trip backfire on the PFP. 
 
5. (C) Hwang noted that to the layman Lien Chan's trip to 
Mainland China might appear successful, but most professional 
observers do not see that Lien achieved anything concrete. 
Hwang noted that both he and James Soong assessed Lien's 
performance in his Beijing University speech, meeting with Hu 
Jintao, and public remarks in Xian as 60 out of 100. 
 
Plea for U.S. Support 
--------------------- 
 
6. (C) On April 25, Hwang requested an urgent meeting with 
AIT to protest the KMT leak of the AIT Director's April 21 
meeting with Lien Chan, to the KMT's advantage.  Hwang 
pointed out that the KMT had "spun" a United Daily News story 
that intimated the U.S. might publicly criticize Chen 
Shui-bian if Chen did not sanction Lien's PRC trip.  On the 
other hand, Hwang complained, despite enormous media pressure 
on Soong and himself to confirm the Director's meeting with 
Soong, the PFP had refused comment.  Hwang said that the 
April 22 China Times story that reported the Director-Soong 
meeting ran without PFP's consent, as evidenced by the fact 
that the newspaper reported the wrong date for the meeting. 
 
7. (C) Hwang further characterized the State Department 
Spokesman's April 18 response to a press question on Lien's 
PRC visit as tantamount to U.S support and blessing for Lien. 
 It is in the USG interest to be more "even-handed" in its 
support for Lien and Soong, Hwang argued, asking whether the 
USG could gave "similar" support for Soong's May 5-12 PRC 
visit. 
 
8. (C) Hwang was truly surprised when AIT pointed out that 
the exchange between the journalist and Spokesman was 
spontaneous, not orchestrated as he had intimated.  He 
responded that he had assumed the Department planted the 
question in order to raise Lien's profile.  Thus, the intent 
of his requested meeting with AIT was to ask if the 
Department could provide Soong with the same support.  "The 
question really was spontaneous and coincidental?" he asked 
once again.  When AIT replied affirmatively, he promised to 
relay that to Soong.  After a moment of thought, he asked AIT 
whether the Spokesman would voice similar support for Soong 
if the PFP were to ask a sympathetic journalist to raise a 
question about Soong's PRC trip.  Without waiting for a 
reply, Hwang said that this is just what PFP intended to do 
and to please inform the Department to expect such a question 
on May 3. 
 
Comment: Pre-Travel Jitters 
--------------------------- 
 
9. (C) Despite PFP discomfort over Chen's May 1 claim that he 
had entrusted Soong to deliver a "special message" to Hu 
Jintao, Soong is unlikely to disclaim any role as quasi-Chen 
messenger, particularly given media reports from Beijing 
reporting that Hu Jintao would welcome Soong's explanation of 
the Chen administration's cross-Strait policy direction. 
Regarding a possible PFP media plant at Department press 
briefings, AIT recommends the Department maintain its 
balanced public formulations in support of dialogue that 
facilitates resolution of cross-Strait differences and that 
leads to dialogue with representative of the duly elected 
leadership in Taiwan. 
PAAL