US embassy cable - 05TAIPEI4517

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 004517 
 
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, ESTH, Cross Strait Politics 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: CROSS-STRAIT RELATIONS, AVIAN FLU 
 
1. Summary: Major Chinese-language Taipei dailies focused 
their coverage November 8 on the arrest of a famous poet who 
threatened Premier Frank Hsieh by phone last week, local 
scandals, and Taiwan's financial assistance to Senegal, 
which severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in late October. 
Almost all newspapers also reported in their inside pages 
the pan-Blue legislators' move at a joint meeting of the 
Legislative Yuan's National Defense Committee and Budget 
Committee Monday to cut the Taiwan Defense Ministry's NT$272 
million budget for the preparatory spending of the U.S. arms 
procurement bill. 
 
2. In terms of editorials and commentaries, an editorial in 
the pro-independence "Liberty Times" criticized the DPP 
government's "effective management, proactive opening" 
policy with regard to Taiwan's investments in China.  The 
article urged the DPP administration not to make a big 
mistake at this critical moment and let China dominate 
Taiwan's cross-Strait policy.  An editorial in the limited- 
circulation, conservative, pro-unification, English-language 
"China Post" discussed Taiwan's plan to prevent the possible 
outbreak of avian flu.  End summary. 
 
1. Cross-Strait Relations 
 
"Do Not Make a Big Historic Mistake at This Critical Moment" 
 
The pro-independence "Liberty Times" [circulation: 600,000] 
asserted in an editorial (11/8): 
 
". Ever since [Chinese President] Hu Jintao came into power, 
he has been pushing even harder and becoming more insistent 
on the one China principle while, at the same time, [playing 
the game of] `acting more softly with regard to soft 
matters.'  The united-front approach [by Beijing] is by no 
means a good-will gesture to Taiwan; instead, it is a 
skillful two-pronged strategy to launch an attack against 
Taiwan from different directions. 
 
"China is attempting to take away the power of the Taiwan 
government by not dealing directly with the island's elected 
government.  China has avoided holding talks with our 
government on an equal footing with regard to issues such as 
[cross-Strait] chartered flights for the Chinese New Year 
and zero tariffs for imported Taiwanese agricultural 
products; instead, it has gone directly to Taiwan's private 
sector and opposition parties.  China's aim has been nothing 
but to belittle Taiwan's sovereign state and force Taiwan to 
accept this reality.  The pace of the Taiwan government's 
cross-Strait policy, in the meantime, seems to be dominated 
by China, too.  The fact that Taiwan's cross-Strait policy 
is controlled by China is by no means favorable to Taiwan. . 
 
"According to observations by this newspaper, our government 
has actively opened [Taiwan's investments in China] to an 
extent that it seems it has placed no restriction whatsoever 
[on such investments].  Although this development was 
partially due to the push of pro-China forces [on the 
island], still, it takes two to tango.  If our government 
did not want to speculate and take advantage of [China's 
blossoming market], mistakenly thinking that this is a way 
to improve Taiwan's economic situation, how would Taiwan 
have ended up losing all its capital and firms?  If our 
authorities had not dreamed of meeting Hu Jintao, how would 
it have allowed [former KMT Chairman] Lien Chan and [PFP 
Chairman] James Soong to go to China to join hands with the 
Chinese Communist Party in restraining Taiwan and thereby 
introducing China's influence into the political competition 
in Taiwan?  Moreover, if our government had not insisted on 
opening [Taiwan's investment in China], how would the pan- 
Blue people and pro-unification media outlets have used the 
so-called alleviated cross-Strait situation as an excuse for 
blocking the special arms procurement [from the United 
States]? ." 
 
2. Avian Flu 
 
"Heed Alarms of Killer Flu" 
 
The conservative, pro-unification, English-language "China 
Post" [circulation: 30,000] said in an editorial (11/8): 
 
". Taiwan plans to spend NT$30 billion (US$890 million) to 
cope with a possible outbreak [of avian flu], which could 
infect 5.3 million people in the island, send 70,000 people 
to hospital and kill about 14,000 of them.  And it has 
succeeded in developing is own anti-bird flu drug and will 
begin mass-production of Tamiflu (oseltamivir), the most 
effective treatment so far, in December, well before the 
anticipated eruption next spring. . 
 
"So far, only Taiwan has formally asked Roche for permission 
to produce the drug.  If Roche refuses to sub-license 
Taipei, Taipei will invoke the right of nations under 
international trade treaties to break patents during health 
emergencies and go ahead with the production anyway.  After 
all, human life is more important than patents.  Tamiflu 
currently costs US$60 for a course of treatment. . 
 
"The SARS virus has killed less than 1,000 people worldwide, 
not millions as had been forecast.  The `swine flu' hysteria 
in the U.S. in the 1970s, the anthrax threat and the 2000 
`millennium bug' that was supposed to shut down the world 
all turned out to be false alarms.  Alarms are annoying. 
But better be annoyed than harmed." 
 
KEEGAN