US embassy cable - 05TAIPEI4299

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 004299 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD - ERIC 
BARBORIAK 
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC, KMDR, KPAO, TW, Cross Strait Politics, ESTH 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: AVIAN FLU, CROSS-STRAIT RELATIONS 
 
Summary: 1. Taiwan dailies October 22 - 24 focused on two 
local issues: President Chen Shui-bian started a campaign 
Saturday to boost the public support for DPP candidates in 
the year-end elections; Acting Kaohsiung City Mayor Yeh Chu- 
lan released Friday the investigative report on the scandal 
of the Kaohisung Mass Transit system, and the report finds 
no major irregularities in the case. 
 
2. With regard to editorials and commentaries, the centrist, 
pro-status quo "China Times" editorialized that Taiwan 
should deal with China and the WHO at the same time in order 
to prevent avian flu from attacking Taiwan.  The pro- 
independence "Taiwan Daily" urged in its editorial (10/24) 
that the DPP government should work on Taiwan's economic 
problems and win the 2008 presidential elections in order to 
prevent China's annexation of Taiwan.  Another editorial of 
"Taiwan Daily" (10/22) argued that both China and the United 
States should not oppose the Taiwan authorities in terms of 
using "Taiwan" as the name of the country.  End summary. 
 
I. Avian Flu 
 
"The Bird Flu Has Come, but Taiwan Has to Face a Lot More 
Challenges" 
 
The centrist, pro-status quo "China Times" [circulation: 
400,000] editorialized (10/22): 
 
". [I]n order to carry out well the prevention of a new wave 
of bird flu that has gotten on the world's nerves, Taiwan 
has to face a lot more challenges than other countries.  In 
particular, [we should pay attention to] how Taiwan 
cooperates with China, a `nest of viruses' viewed by 
international medical agencies; and how Taiwan seeks support 
from the World Health organization (WHO).  In fact, Taiwan 
doesn't have enough `chips' to overcome these two variables: 
there is only a strait between Taiwan and China, and cross- 
Strait exchanges of passengers and goods are frequent. 
Smuggling in the coastal area has also become a blind spot 
to prevent bird flu outside the island, i.e. Taiwan's 
territory.  The world depends on the WHO to manage and 
distribute the insufficient supply of Tamiflu.  Since Taiwan 
is not covered under the WHO net, it becomes a hot potato 
for Taiwan to obtain vaccines that cannot be bought by 
money. ." 
 
II. Cross-Strait Relations 
 
1.  "As Long as Taiwan People Support in 2008 Their Own 
Regime and Develop [Taiwan's] Economy Wholeheartedly, China 
Could Never Annex Taiwan" 
 
The pro-independence "Taiwan Daily" [circulation: 100,000] 
said in its editorial (10/24): 
 
". Taiwan has faced a dilemma of domestic disturbance and 
foreign aggression: the pan-Blue alliance incorporated the 
pro-unification press, and they have not only showed 
pessimistic views toward Taiwan's future, but have actually 
destroyed Taiwan; China, on the other hand, played the role 
of a `wire-puller.'. When the pan-Blue alliance and China 
talk about Taiwan, they express the attitude that Taiwan has 
nowhere to go, and the island could no longer survive; but 
when they talk about China, they show the feeling of 
prosperity and development, [with business] chances 
everywhere.  This is quite a sharp contrast. . [The DPP 
government] should propose solutions that would effectively 
upgrade Taiwan's economy, and it should review the problem 
of the growing unemployment rate.  It is pragmatic for the 
government to push for policies that will satisfy peoples' 
needs. ." 
 
2.  "China Constrains and Blockades [Taiwan's International 
Space] by Frightening Means, Due to the Reason that Taiwan 
Does Not Have an Independent National Sovereignty" 
 
The pro-independence "Taiwan Daily" [circulation: 100,000] 
editorialized that (10/22): 
 
"The Constitution of the Republic of China (R.O.C.) that 
Taiwan has been using includes the territories and people of 
the People's Republic of China (P.R.C.) and the People's 
Republic of Mongolia.  It is doubtless an infringement of 
sovereignty to China and Mongolia.  Moreover, the P.R.C. has 
never recognized the existence of the R.O.C.  Hence, the 
Beijing authorities have no reason to oppose the Taiwan 
people's plan to abandon the obsolete and unrecognized 
symbols, such as the name and the constitution of the R.O.C. 
 
"On the other hand, the U.S. Senate passed the `Taiwan 
Relations Act' after the United States established 
diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China.  The 
fact that the U.S. Senate did not name it as the `Republic 
of China Relations Act' means that the United States has 
identified Taiwan as an international legal body independent 
from China. ." 
 
KEEGAN