US embassy cable - 05TAIPEI4774

UNCLAS TAIPEI 004774 
 
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, Domestic Politics 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: TAIWAN'S CROSS-STRAIT POLICY 
 
1. Summary: Major Chinese-language Taiwan dailies continued 
to give their full attention December 1 to covering the 
campaigns and mud-slinging for Saturday's 3-in-1 elections. 
All newspapers reported in their front or second pages 
President Chen Shui-bian's campaign remarks in I-lan city 
Wednesday that the government will tighten its cross-Strait 
policy in the event of a sweeping victory by the opposition 
pan-Blue camp. 
 
2. Editorials of the pro-independence "Liberty Times" and 
centrist "China Times" both commented on President Chen's 
remarks on the government's cross-Strait policy.  The 
"Liberty Times" editorial compared Chen's remarks with the 
Executive Yuan's announcement a few days ago that it would 
loosen the government's cross-Strait policy, saying that the 
DPP administration needs to have a coherent and more 
restrictive cross-Strait policy.  The "China Times" 
editorial, however, criticized the DPP administration as 
seeing nothing but elections, adding that Chen's decision 
will only isolate Taiwan and make it even more marginalized 
in the region.  End summary. 
 
A) "DPP Will Lose More Votes If It Unduly Loosens Its Cross- 
Strait Policy" 
 
The pro-independence "Liberty Times" [circulation: 600,000] 
editorialized (12/1): 
 
". [T]he fact that the Presidential Office and the Executive 
Yuan each spoke of a different version of the government's 
cross-Strait policy fully reflected the DPP's confusion and 
anxiety over the outcomes of the [3-in-1] elections.  Even 
though the final results of the elections will not unveil 
until [the end of] the polling day, the various opinion 
surveys conducted recently by the private sector showed that 
it is a generally acknowledged fact that the DPP is in a 
very unfavorable position in terms of election campaigns. . 
 
"Over the past five years since DPP came into power, what 
people have criticized most is Taiwan's loss of its economic 
vitality, which is a result of the government's opening of 
its cross-Strait policy.  In other words, the opening up of 
Taiwan's cross-Strait economic and trade policy is the 
`cause' rather than the `result' of Taiwan's economic 
downfall following the transition of political parties [five 
years ago].  As a result, if Taiwan wants to restore its 
economic edge, the only way it can do is to hold on to its 
prior `no haste, be patient' policy because the `effective 
opening' policy is nothing but a dead end.  . 
 
"This newspaper has more than once emphasized the 
shortcomings of an open cross-Strait economic policy and the 
major impact of such a policy on Taiwan's economy and 
sovereignty awareness. . When voters choose to cast their 
votes for a pro-Taiwan nativism political party, it means 
they support the DPP for its sticking to the pro-Taiwan 
ideals and values.  The DPP must never back out from its 
cross-Strait policy, nor should it regard Taiwan as the 
stakes of an election gamble. ." 
 
B) "[The Government] Wants to `Tighten' Cross-Strait 
Relations after the Elections?" 
 
The centrist, pro-status quo "China Times" [circulation: 
400,000] commented in an editorial (12/1): 
 
"Yes, Taiwan sees nothing but the elections at this moment; 
it cares only if somebody will become a lame duck and if 
someone will step down after the elections, as if nothing 
else in the whole world matters more than these.  .  While 
Taiwan is fighting like Kilkenny cats during the election 
campaigns, a large-scale event, the East Asian summit, is 
about to be held.  Likewise, the longest bridge in the whole 
Asia and the biggest deep-water harbor are about to be 
inaugurated.  When all the East Asian nations are feeling 
the anxiety about the whole new changes in the competitive 
domain of influence [in the region], Taiwan alone is utterly 
unaware of the situation going on in the outside world and 
the accelerating marginalization of its own, tangible or 
intangible. . 
 
". If President Chen insists on tightening the cross-Strait 
policy in the wake of the [3-in-1] elections, we really have 
nothing to say.  While East Asia is undergoing a stage of 
the biggest changes of the century, Taiwan chooses to lock 
itself up and isolate itself, absolutely unaware of itself 
being marginalized.  What it is left now is nothing but 
those eloquent campaigning rhetoric on the trucks!" 
 
PAAL