US embassy cable - 05TAIPEI2745

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 002745 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS AIT/W 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PINR, CH, TW, Cross Strait Politics 
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT PLANS TO ISSUE NATIONAL SECURITY REPORT 
 
 
Classified By: AIT Director Douglas Paal, Reason: 1.4 (B/D) 
 
1. (C) Summary: National Security Council (NSC) Secretary 
General Chiou I-jen announced on June 17 that President Chen 
Shui-bian would release the first annual National Security 
Report later in the summer.  Chiou told AIT that the report 
would be prepared by the NSC and cover foreign policy, 
defense, cross-Strait relations, economics, and domestic 
issues, including disaster relief.  NSC and Executive Yuan 
(EY) officials reject media speculation that the report 
represents an attempt by Chiou to undermine the authority of 
Premier Frank Hsieh, who is responsible for issuing the 
government's formal national policy address at the start of 
the Legislative Yuan's (LY) regular biannual sessions. 
Whether intentional or not, the National Security Report will 
give the President, and Chiou, a platform to maintain control 
over the policy agenda in the final years of Chen's term and 
limit Hsieh's ability to use his position to establish an 
independent policy line.  End Summary. 
 
Comprehensive Security Report 
----------------------------- 
 
2. (C) NSC Secretary General Chiou I-jen announced on June 17 
that President Chen would soon issue Taiwan's first-ever 
"National Security Report."  Chiou said that the report would 
cover five topics: foreign policy, defense, cross-Strait 
relations, economics/finance, and domestic issues.  Chiou 
told AIT subsequently that the "domestic issues" referred 
primarily to such things as the government's response to 
major natural disasters and public health crises.  Chiou said 
the report would cover both developments over the past year 
as well as the government's strategy for the coming 
two-to-four years.  While no firm date has been set for the 
release of the report, Chiou said the draft is not likely to 
be fully cleared until August.  Once the President has 
approved the language, he will publicly unveil it at a formal 
NSC meeting. 
 
3. (C) Chiou told AIT that the NSC's three Deputy Secretaries 
General and five Senior Advisors have taken the lead on 
various portions of the draft report.  They, in turn, have 
been authorized to consult relevant government agencies and 
outside academic experts for input.  NSC officials have been 
reluctant to discuss the contents of their own portions of 
the report with AIT, noting that the draft is still in the 
early clearance stages. 
 
NSC-EY Battle? 
-------------- 
 
4. (C) Response from the media and opposition parties to the 
planned report has been generally positive.  A number of 
commentators have compared the proposed report to the U.S. 
President's annual State of the Union Address.  However, 
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislator and former NSC 
Senior Advisor Lai Hsin-yuan dismissed the proposed report, 
telling AIT that it is simply another Chen-style PR stunt. 
Some media analysts have also speculated that the planned 
report is an outgrowth of growing policy competition between 
Chiou and Premier Frank Hsieh.  Many of the issues to be 
covered under the proposed National Security Report duplicate 
subjects that are part of the Premier's National Policy 
Report delivered to the LY at the start of each regular 
session.  Some analysts have suggested that Chiou is seeking 
to pre-empt Hsieh's September LY report by releasing the 
President's report in August.  Constitutionally, the 
President, through the NSC process, has the lead on national 
security, cross-Strait, and defense, while the Premier, 
through the EY, is responsible for economic and domestic 
policy. 
 
5. (C) Chiou dismissed accusations that the NSC is seeking to 
undermine Hsieh's authority, noting that the NSC has been 
studying the idea of an annual National Security Report for 
at least two years, an assertion confirmed separately by 
former NSC Senior Advisor Lai.  EY Secretary General Lee 
Ying-yuan was equally dismissive of media speculation over a 
Chiou-Hsieh rift, asserting to AIT (in Chiou's presence) that 
rumors of internal tensions were manufactured by media 
outlets looking to make news.  (Comment: While NSC officials 
have privately told AIT that there is a growing sense of 
competition between the NSC and EY over major policy issues, 
coordination between the two organizations over the past five 
months, particularly at the SecGen level, has been better 
than we have witnessed at any time in the past three years. 
End Comment.) 
 
Comment: Managing the Message 
----------------------------- 
 
6. (C) Whether intentional or not, the National Security 
Report is likely to serve as an effective tool for the 
President to maintain a measure of control over the 
government's policy agenda in his final years in office. 
With some political pundits already predicting that Chen will 
enter the lame duck phase of his presidency by the beginning 
of 2006, there will be a growing tendency by the media and 
political insiders to look for signs that Premier Hsieh is 
creating his own independent policy line ahead of the 2008 
presidential primary.  By establishing a mechanism to lay 
down markers on major policy issues, including those within 
Hsieh's constitutional purview, Chen, and by extension, 
Chiou, may be able to set limits on the Premier's policy 
autonomy. 
PAAL