Cablegate: Media Reaction: U.S.-China-Taiwan Relations

VZCZCXYZ1500
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #1203 2791000
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 061000Z OCT 09
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2446
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 9420
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0838

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 001203

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/P, EAP/PD - THOMAS HAMM
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO TW
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-CHINA-TAIWAN RELATIONS

Summary: Taiwan's major Chinese-language dailies focused news
coverage October 6 on the aftermath of Typhoon Parma, which brought
heavy rain to the northern and eastern parts of the island; and on
the joint rescue operations conducted by both sides of the Taiwan
Strait to search for and rescue the crew of a Panama-registered
cargo ship sinking off Taiwan's outlying Penghu Islands Monday. In
terms of editorials and commentaries, an editorial in the
pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" discussed the rise
of China and its relations with other nations. The article said
U.S. President Barack Obama's giving "the cold shoulder" to Tibetan
leader the Dalai Lama "sends the wrong signal," indicating that
Obama "too, is willing to kowtow before the Chinese emperor." End
summary.

"Obama Blinks, Freedom Suffers"

The pro-independence, English-language "Taipei Times" [circulation:
30,000] editorialized (10/6):

"... For obvious reasons, China should be embraced as a major
developing nation and given a place at the table that is
commensurate with its importance. It is in no one's interest,
however, to inflate Beijing's sense of importance. What China needs
as it continues its rise is a degree of humility, but this will only
develop if other nations maintain their dignity. When US President
Barack Obama gives Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama the cold shoulder
(the first time since 1991 that a US president will not meet the
spiritual leader while he is in Washington) lest meeting him anger
Chinese President Hu Jintao ahead of the Obama-Hu meeting next
month, it sends the wrong signal. If there is one place where the
president of the most powerful country in the world should do as he
chooses, it is on US soil.

"The same could be said of President Ma Ying-jeou, who snubbed the
Dalai Lama during his trip to Taiwan last month, or of Taiwan's --
and now perhaps New Zealand's -- refusal to allow Uighur rights
activist Rebiya Kadeer to visit. China's rise is extraordinary, if
not unprecedented. But there is nothing supernatural about it, nor
is it a symbol of superiority -- Han Chinese chauvinism
notwithstanding. China's rise also comes at great cost: grave human
rights violations, environmental degradation and support for
repressive regimes. The more accommodating the world is to
Beijing's sense of superiority, and the more it tries not to anger
China, the greater China's tendency will be to regard itself as
above criticism. There is no reason why Obama should not meet the
Dalai Lama. Unless he, too, is willing to kowtow before the Chinese
emperor."

STANTON

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