CNN reports backroom deal between China, KMT

The Cable News Network (CNN) posted an analysis on its Web site Wednesday which said that Beijing has struck backroom deals with the KMT to blunt the DPP's prospects in the Dec. 1 elections.

The story, penned by Willy Wo-Lap Lam (林和立), added that the Chinese government also hopes to check the growth of the fledgling Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) in a bid to deny pro-independence elements majority control in the legislature.

The CNN story caused a stir among Taiwanese politicians yesterday, as the two major opposition parties raised doubts over the credibility of the report and the DPP and TSU reiterated the importance of loyalty.

The controversy surfaced soon after CNN published the story, "Shifting alliances shape Taiwan status," in its "Eye on China" column at 11:25am Wednesday.

In the story, Lam said, without naming his sources, that "in closed-door meetings with KMT stalwarts, Beijing cadres have pledged to give them political and other kinds of support to ensure the DPP's defeat at the polls."

Lam, previously China editor of the South China Morning Post and a well-respected analyst of Chinese affairs, added that Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) "has quietly thrown his support behind the KMT and the People First Party [PFP]," many of whose members met with Chinese Communist Party officials over the last year.

The best-case scenario for the Chinese leadership, he wrote, is that Taiwan's sluggish economy will take its toll on the number of seats won by the DPP in next week's nationwide elections.

The columnist noted that Beijing has adopted a multi-pronged strategy aimed at bringing Taiwan to heel and summed up the strategy in a dictum: "be as tough -- or as conciliatory -- as the situation requires."

To that end, Beijing has switched to "some form of smile diplomacy" under which Chinese officials have learned to avoid hostile comments on Taiwan's elections, as they backfired in the two previous presidential elections, according to Lam.

He quoted Beijing sources as saying Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan (唐家璇) was recently given a reprimand for "his undiplomatic treatment" of Taiwan's delegation to last month's APEC meeting in Shanghai.

Lam said that Beijing is also taking aim at the newly formed TSU, calling the party a covert pro-independence group.

KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) disparaged the CNN analysis as a figment of a rumor-monger's imagination, saying no one in Taiwan is stupid enough to believe the alleged deals between Beijing and the KMT are real.

"One can tell that the claim is an utter fabrication without the help of one's brain," Lien told reporters in Kaohsiung. "What did the author base his observations on?"

Lien said the DPP administration was probably behind the report, which was first picked up by the state-run Central News Agency before appearing in local Chinese-language newspapers.

"The entire incident may be just another gambit by the DPP administration to discredit the KMT in the run-up to the elections," he said.

Echoing Lien's indignation, PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) roundly denied ever accepting help from Beijing.

Soong, however, expressed greater displeasure over a headline a local paper used with a story which alleged the Chinese Communist Party has stealthily aided the KMT and the PFP.

"Irresponsible journalism such as that points to the need for reform," Soong said on his way to Ilan to campaign for fellow legislative candidates there. He said he would not rule out taking legal action against the newspaper.