VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB
DE RUEHIN #1787 3660429
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 310429Z DEC 08
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0635
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 8822
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0283
UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001787
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: U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS
Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused December
31 news coverage on the legal cases involving former President Chen
Shui-bian, who was detained again on corruption charges on December
30; on Legislator Diane Lee, who quit the KMT on the evening of
December 30 in the midst of questions about her citizenship; on
President Ma Ying-jeou's interviews with a Taiwan TV station and
with the "Yahoo! Kimo" website, respectively; and on Taiwan's bid to
seek World Health Assembly observer status in 2009. In terms of
editorials and commentaries, a column in the conservative,
pro-unification, English-language "China Post" discussed the future
U.S.-China relations after U.S. President-elect Barack Obama takes
over the helm in 2009. The article urged the incoming Obama
administration to "give greater recognition of China's role in the
coming decades" as the U.S.-China relationship "is perhaps the key
relationship that the United States must sustain if Obama is to
achieve success in virtually all his other foreign policy priority
areas." End summary.
"China Needs More U.S. Recognition"
Columnist Frank Ching wrote in the conservative, pro-unification,
English-language "China Post" [circulation: 30,000] (12/31):
"... But the next [U.S.] president must recognize that China is not
just a relationship to be managed. It is perhaps the key
relationship that the United States must sustain if Obama is to
achieve success in virtually all his other foreign policy priority
areas. In the 21st century, there is no relationship more important
to the United States. This does not mean that Washington can give
up its network of alliances in Europe and in Asia. Those alliances
are important. But Washington must give greater recognition of
China's role in the coming decades. ...
""An Obama administration will certainly understand that the
U.S.-China bilateral relationship is a complex web of relationships,
and the overall relationship cannot be held hostage to any one
strand of it, no matter how important. This is because in the 21st
century, cooperation between Washington and Beijing is vital, not
just for those two countries but for the rest of the world as well.
... The coming Obama administration should demonstrate that it is
willing to treat China with greater dignity. One demonstration of
this new attitude would be an early visit to Beijing by a newly
installed President Obama. Another dramatic move would be to offer
to cooperate with China in a space mission. At a time when a
Chinese astronaut has staged the country's first space walk and when
interest in space is re-emerging in the United States, a joint space
venture would not only demonstrate American respect for Chinese
technology but could also capture the imagination of the world as to
just what is possible if these two countries work together."
YOUNG