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Chinese
lobbying outshines Taiwan
WHAT TRUCE?: Beijing has set
up a multi-million dollar lobbying effort in Washington and is taking advantage
of Ma's 'diplomatic truce' to sever Senate ties to Taiwan
By William Lowther
and Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTERS , WASHINGTON AND TAIPEI
Monday, Jan 11, 2010, Page 1
The Washington Post printed a front-page story on Saturday saying that China had
launched a multimillion-dollar lobbying effort “so effective that it is
challenging the heralded efforts of nemesis Taiwan.”
According to the story, China has dramatically improved its image in the US and
now has enough friends in Congress to blunt at least some pro-Taiwan
legislation.
“From 2005 to 2009, China for the first time hosted more US politicians and
congressional staff members than Taiwan,” the story said. “China has also
tripled the amount it spends on lobbying firms, including such powerhouses as
Patton Boggs and Hogan & Hartson, since 2006 — although it continues to be
outspent by Taiwan.”
Headed “As China Raises, So Does Its Influence On The Hill,” the report vividly
contrasts the way Congress attacked China Ocean Shipping Co 10 years ago as
being a front for espionage with the way leading senators and congressmen
praised the company last year for employing thousands of Americans and helping
to keep the waters of Alaska clean.
“The congressional about-face illustrates a dramatic increase in China’s
influence on Capitol Hill, where for years its lobbying muscle never matched its
ballooning importance in world affairs,” the Post said.
The newspaper said that China’s new prominence was largely the result of
Beijing’s increasingly sophisticated efforts to influence events in Washington
and a “growing realization among US lawmakers that China has become a critical
economic player across America.”
Many Americans still view China with deep suspicion because of its communist
system and human rights record, the newspaper said, but the results of Beijing’s
campaign are changing that.
While there can be no doubt that China has greatly increased its power within
the US Congress over the last few years, the Taiwan lobby remains strong and
there are still many congressmen and senators who can be relied upon to support
Taipei on crucial issues.
California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, a former mayor of San Francisco,
is quoted by the Post as saying: “There was originally this kind of
anti-communist view of China. That’s changing. China is a socialist country, but
one that is increasingly becoming capitalistic.”
“The new openness toward China is often subtle and not shared by all. But an
undeniable evolution is taking place, congressional staffers and analysts said,
as members of Congress, many with increasing numbers of large and small
businesses in their districts that depend on trade with China, are now far more
likely to kill or water down measures opposed to Beijing,” the newspaper added.
“In the mid-1990s, Taiwan’s success in lobbying for a visa for then-president
Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) to attend a reunion at Cornell University and give a speech
infuriated China and helped precipitate a crisis in the Taiwan Strait.”
In 2005, China spent US$4 million lobbying Congress to let the state-owned China
National Offshore Oil Corp buy the US oil conglomerate UNOCAL, and failed.
Since then, China has opened a US$200 milion embassy in Washington with 10
full-time diplomats — most of them speaking perfect English — working on
congressional affairs.
“Some legislators who used to be considered firmly in Taiwan’s camp now lean
toward China,” the Post said.
It points out that Eni Faleomavaega, a non-voting 11-term member from American
Samoa who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Asia and the
Pacific, was once friendly to Taipei but over the last year has “watered down or
killed pro-Taiwan legislation and resolutions.”
“Faleomavaega partly credited China’s improved lobbying for the shift,” the Post
said.
It quoted him as saying: “Our friendliest allies — Germany, Great Britain,
France and Japan — know how to work the system. China is just trying to catch
up.”
Commenting on the report, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus deputy
secretary-general Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
administration should take heed of Beijing’s efforts.
“The administration under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is still trumpeting the
diplomatic truce policy, while clearly our enemy is not resting at all,” Huang
said.
Huang urged the Ma government to review the policy and enhance Taiwan’s lobbying
of members of the US Congress, adding that “the result of the [Saturday
legislative] by-elections [in Taitung, Taoyuan and Taichung] showed the public’s
dissatisfaction with Ma’s policy, including the diplomatic truce policy.”
KMT caucus secretary-general Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟), meanwhile, described the
change as “natural,” given the extent to which trade has grown between China and
the US.
However, Lu said the Ma government should still be alerted to the change because
“the US is a very important ally of ours.”
Lu said members of the legislature would continue to enhance communication with
their counterparts in the US via the Taiwan-US Parliamentary Amity Association.
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