US embassy cable - 05TAIPEI3323

UNCLAS TAIPEI 003323 
 
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 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS 
 
 
1. Summary:  The Taipei dailies continued August 10 to 
focus their coverage on the water shortage in Taoyuan, 
and the newly released results of Taiwan's college 
entrance examination.  Almost all the major Chinese- 
language Taipei newspapers also reported in their 
inside pages that the Pan-Green political parties and 
some pro-independence groups will stage a rally 
September 25 to protest the Legislative Yuan's failure 
to pass the U.S. arms procurement bill.  The pro- 
independence "Liberty Times," Taiwan's biggest daily, 
was the only Chinese-language newspaper that reported 
on its front page a ruling by Taiwan's Ministry of 
National Defense High Military Court to give a life 
sentence to a major for leaking confidential 
information to China. 
 
2.  Most newspapers ran editorials on Taiwan's trade 
performance, judicial system, and a local gangster's 
lawsuit.  The pro-independence "Liberty Times" ran an 
op-ed piece by an assistant professor of 
Interdisciplinary Studies at National Sun Yet-sen 
University, Chang Hsi-mo, who wrote that China and the 
United States are entering a special type of "New Cold 
War" as wrestling between superpowers in the region is 
getting increasingly intense.  End summary. 
 
"New Cold War Between the United States and China" 
 
Chang Hsi-mo, Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary 
Studies at National Sun Yet-sen University, commented 
in an op-ed piece in the pro-independence "Liberty 
Times" [circulation: 700,000] (8/10): 
 
"The focus of the history of East Asia is shifting from 
economics and the war on terrorism to geopolitical 
conflicts.  Wrestling between superpowers is getting 
increasingly intense [in the region], and the 
atmosphere is becoming to resemble that of a `New Cold 
War' between the United States and China. . 
 
"Changes in the U.S.-China relationship have also 
evidently affected the situation on the Korean 
Peninsula.  The recently held fourth round of the Six 
Party Talks was the longest talks that have ever been 
held among the six parties.  Even though Russia (with 
the blessings of China) adopted new moves to 
[successfully] disturb Washington's plan, the whole 
process [of the talks] showed that the United States' 
policy has changed.  Washington is showing a strong 
interest in maintaining the talks and reaching a 
resolution [with regard to the nuclear program on the 
Korean Peninsula] in an attempt to take away the `North 
Korean card' from China's hands and to create a more 
favorable position for itself in its future wrestling 
with China. 
 
"All signs show that China and the United States are 
now entering a special type of New Cold War.  Both 
sides remain a major trade partner to the other, but 
the geopolitical wrestling between the two, which is 
centered on conflicts over energy strategies, is just 
heating up." 
 
PAAL