INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Media Reaction: Obama's Nomination Victory

Published: Thu 5 Jun 2008 09:46 AM
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DE RUEHIN #0780 1570946
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 050946Z JUN 08
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9082
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 8335
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 9574
UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000780
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/PA, EAP/PD - NIDA EMMONS
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: OBAMA'S NOMINATION VICTORY
Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused June 5 news
coverage on Senator Barack Obama becoming the Democratic Party's
presidential nominee; on Taiwan Minister of Foreign Affairs
Francisco Ou's green card controversy; on President Ma Ying-jeou's
statement on the 19th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre
Wednesday; and on planned visits by Taiwan's city and county chiefs
to China. In terms of editorials and commentaries, a column in the
mass-circulation "Apple Daily" commented on Obama's nomination
victory, saying it proved that the United States has arrived at a
historical turning point. An op-ed piece in the pro-unification
"United Daily News" also said that given Obama's ethnic background,
the nomination victory itself is of great historical significance.
End summary.
A) "The United States Standing on a Turning Point"
Columnist Antonio Chiang noted in the mass-circulation "Apple Daily"
[circulation: 520,000] (6/5):
"... Media in Europe have showed a lopsided aversion to [Senator]
Hillary Clinton and an inexplicable liking for [Senator] Barack
Obama. A similar phenomenon can also be seen in Latin America,
Africa and the Middle East. Obama stands for a new America, whereas
Clinton symbolizes not only the extension of an old era but also the
successor of the Clinton dynasty. It will not be easy for Obama to
defeat John McCain of the Republican Party, and it is still too
early to tell whether Obama will make significant changes in foreign
policy. But Obama's capture of the Democratic Party's presidential
nomination has proven that U.S. society has arrived at a historical
turning point."
B) "The Key to Obama's White House Dream Lies in [Picking the Right]
Running Mate"
Yan Cheng-sheng, director of the Institute of International
Relations' America-Europe Division, National Chengchi University,
opined in the pro-unification "United Daily News" [circulation:
400,000] (6/5):
"... The fact that [Senator] Barack Obama, who represents a minority
group that accounts for 12 percent of the entire population in the
United States, was able to clinch the Democratic Party's
presidential nomination, is a development of great historic
significance. Whether the American voters are willing to cross over
the fence of ethnicity and support Obama to win the presidency in
the future will depend on whether the other voters, mainly composed
of the whites, will be able to overcome their psychological
barriers. ...
"On January 19, 2009, people will celebrate the 80th birthday of Dr.
Martin Luther King, and the inauguration of the new U.S. president
will fall on the next day, and twenty days later, people will
celebrate the two hundredth birthday of former President Abraham
Lincoln, who liberated black slaves. With a greater sense of
history, the American voters ought to be happy to see Obama elected
as the next U.S. president - the most powerful testimony of the
remarkable legacy left behind by these two great men in history."
WANG
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