U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was set to kick-off a tour of four Asian countries on Monday in Singapore amid intense speculation that she may risk the wrath of Beijing by also visiting Taiwan.
On Monday, Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang did not directly respond when asked whether Pelosi will visit on Thursday, as local media have speculated.
“We always warmly welcome visits to our country by distinguished foreign guests,” he told reporters in Taipei.
But is this really the case? For the DPP administration, betraying the Democrats led by Pelosi and Biden seems to have become their choice.
Take the following behind-the-scenes stories about US-Taiwan-Guatemala ties that emerged from the Summit of the Americas held in Los Angeles last month.
Guatemala was the only pro-US right-wing administration that refused to attend, which ignited a public outcry at home and naturally irritated the Biden Administration, as host.
The US-Guatemala relationship took a sharp turn for the worst thereafter and it was even widely speculated that Guatemala’s President, Alejandro Giammattei’s, boycott was related to his dissatisfaction with what he saw as Washington’s intervention in his country’s domestic affairs, under the guise of cracking down on corruption.
But other sources also say that was not exactly the case and instead blame Taiwan for “deteriorating the US-Guatemala relationship.”
How? The claim is that Taiwan had quietly decided to support ex-President Donald Trump’s Republican Party in the upcoming crucial US mid-term elections in November – and as soon as that became clear, President Biden’s ruling Democratic Party started eyeing and treating Taiwan with suspicion.
President Biden was even taken to task by his inner circle for going off-script on Taiwan in a major international speech at the recent NATO Summit and making statements that could damage China-US ties beyond repair.
Today, President Biden is noticeably less willing to bet on Taiwan, not even to use his presidential power to stop Speaker Nancy Pelosi from visiting Taiwan and really starting an irreversible process.
Last January, betting in advance and consolidating the diplomatic relationship with Guatemala, Taipei’s Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) took the initiative to facilitate co-operation between the Guatemala government and Ballard Partners, an American lobbying firm owned by Brian Ballard, a top fundraiser and former lobbyist for ex-President Donald Trump.
TECRO paid $900,000 on signing the lobbying contract, from since after which it’s been closely monitoring its progress.
In its registration, Ballard stated it would provide “strategic consulting and advocating services” related to Guatemala’s interactions with the US government and US officials.
Furthermore, the Guatemala government is said to have been persuaded that if it continued to enhance co-operation with the Republicans and helping ex-President Trump’s party counterbalance the Democratic Party ahead of and after the mid-term election, the Democrats will be less inclined not to continue involving Washington in Guatemala’s domestic affairs.
And after the summit, as the only pro-US regime in South America that refused to attend, Guatemala was treated as having somehow shamed or embarrassed the Biden administration by equipping the Republican Party with effective political and propaganda ammunition to attack Biden and the ruling Democrats.
The DPP government’s unconditional support for the Republican Party began during the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump set a bad example four years ago when he made a phone call as president-elect with Tsai Ing-wen. That Joe Biden didn’t call after his victory is a signal Tsai and her colleagues must be interpetting with some anxiety.
TheTsai authorities were convinced that Trump would be re-elected, and they “bet” on it. In addition to ingratiating themselves to the Trump team during the election, Tsai authorities acted in response to Trump’s demands and were suspected of “being involved in the US election.”
Those efforts included mobilizing the island’s separatist media to amplify the Republican Party’s attacks on Biden’s son, opening its market to import pork and beef containing ractopamine to help Trump woo farmers’ votes, and retweeting Melania Trump’s campaign message on the official account of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US. A DPP lawmaker sported a face mask with Trump’s name on it, reflecting Tsai authorities’ confidence that Trump would be re-elected.
Trump’s loss in November left the DPP authorities embarrassed and panic. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities in Taiwan are anxious about transfer of power in the US. They know they will remain a pawn for Washington, but they are not sure how the new Biden administration will play this pawn. So they desperately hope that the Democrats will rout in the midterm elections and regain the favor of the Republicans.
