US embassy cable - 05TAIPEI3703

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 003703 
 
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: HURRICANE KATRINA 
 
 
1. Summary: Amid the extensive coverage September 7 of 
a corruption scandal involving a local prosecutor and 
the aftermath of a recent riot by Thai workers in 
Kaohsiung, almost all major Chinese-language Taipei 
dailies reported that the U.S. arms procurement bill 
was blocked by the Pan-Blue legislative caucuses again 
Tuesday.  The Chinese-language newspapers, however, 
also carried news stories saying KMT Chairman Ma Ying- 
jeou and Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng both 
agreed Tuesday evening to let the Pan-Blue legislators 
review the U.S. arms procurement bill soon. 
 
2. All the Chinese-language Taipei dailies also carried 
wire service stories in their inside pages regarding 
the situation in New Orleans in the aftermath of 
Hurricane Katrina.  In addition, columnist Lin Poh-wen 
commented in the centrist "China Times" on the Bush 
administration's incompetence in responding quickly and 
effectively to disasters and relieving the victims. 
Lin said Hurricane Katrina has blown away the mask of 
the United States and exposed many ugly aspects of the 
United States under Bush's leadership.  A separate 
commentary in the conservative, pro-unification "United 
Daily News" also compared Baghdad with New Orleans and 
asked the American people if they have ever thought of 
the hunger and rage of the people in Baghdad.  End 
summary. 
 
A) "Hurricane Katrina Blows down the Signboard of 
[President] Bush's Empire" 
 
Columnist Lin Poh-wen commented in the centrist, pro- 
status quo "China Times" [circulation: 400,000] (9/7): 
 
"Hundreds of thousands of black victims [of Hurricane 
Katrina] are now in an abyss of suffering caused by the 
`flood,' while [U.S. President George W.] Bush and his 
careless team that have failed to respond efficiently 
to the disaster are now suffering from a `heated' 
political wound.  This is the image of today's United 
States of America. . 
 
"Hurricane Katrina has exposed many ugly aspects of the 
United States under Bush's leadership.  Bush has been 
publicly promoting imperialism to the outside world, 
while in the meantime, he has been secretly encouraging 
racism inside the United States.  The federal 
government's sluggishness in relieving the victims as 
well as the Department of Homeland Security's and the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency's incompetence to 
respond quickly and effectively to disasters are not 
simply a question of ability and bureaucracy but a real 
problem caused by racial and hierarchical ideology. 
Bush and his administration are clearly aware that the 
blacks are not voters for the Republican Party, and 
above all, the blacks in the South are poor and weak 
and they have neither power nor prestige.  How will the 
lofty white people ever care about them?  In the white 
people's hearts, the black are never one among them, 
[and this has been true] from the Civil War in the 
nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century when 
Reverend Martin Luther King bellowed `I have a dream' 
and `we shall overcome.'  But the cruel fact is that 
the life, situation and status of the black people have 
hardly improved; every new minority immigrating to the 
United States has done better economically.  King's 
`dream' remains a dream unrealized. 
 
"The hurricane has blown away the mask of the United 
States.  The world has suddenly come to realize that 
the United States has two different faces and two 
special ranks - one of the white, rich and prestigious, 
and the other of the black, poor and underprivileged. . 
 
"Hurricane Katrina has ravaged Bush's political career, 
unveiling to the world the hypocritical and incompetent 
aspect of the Republican Party.  But unfortunately, it 
is the hundreds of thousands of victims that have 
become their sacrificial lamb." 
 
B) "From Baghdad to New Orleans" 
 
The "Black and White" column of the conservative, pro- 
unification "United Daily News" [circulation: 400,000] 
noted (9/5): 
 
"The city of New Orleans, which has been severely 
damaged by Hurricane Katrina, has stunned both the 
Americans and the world; people are asking:  How come 
this superpower [of the United States] looks so similar 
to an African country at war? 
 
"The question does not lie in the devastation of the 
hurricane and flooding, nor does it have anything to do 
with the ratio of the black or the poor in the city. 
The question lies in the Bush administration's 
incompetence to warn [the people] and respond to 
disasters efficiently.  As a result, the hungry victims 
have turned into mobs that rob everyone and everything, 
and the delightful and beautiful city of jazz has 
turned into a perished city of no order at all.  It is 
no wonder that the [American] soldiers that have just 
returned from Iraq and been sent to New Orleans felt as 
though they have returned to Baghdad again. . 
 
"The disorderly city of New Orleans has made the U.S. 
government realize that hungry people could turn into 
outrageous people.  Now, will the American people also 
think of the hunger and rage of the people in Baghdad?" 
 
KEEGAN