Secret Taiwan Fund Sought Friends, Influence Abroad [Wash Post]
When the hearings were held in Congress on Clinton receiving money from Chinese sources, I'm sure no one was so indiscreet as to mention other countries that might be buying influence on U.S. policy. One obvious one is the other China, Taiwan, which puts their mainland cousins to shame in this department. And another is a country often discussed on this very thread, but never mentioned in that connection in Congress.
Another highlight in American politics was Clinton's trip to India, when Hillary had just received $50,000 for her senate campaign from a group of Pakistani-Americans. Amid much speculation, Clinton also visited Pakistan.
Did he or didn't he doesn't much matter, but the events of 9/11 put a new focus on it. The dreamers of globilization often ignore these realities. I'm afraid we may be looking at the future of American politics.
Doc
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Secret Taiwan Fund Sought Friends, Influence Abroad
By John Pomfret
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, April 5, 2002; Page A01
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Desperate for international support, Taiwan under former president Lee Teng-hui established a secret $100 million fund to buy influence with foreign governments, institutions and individuals, including some in the United States, according to current and former Taiwanese officials.
The fund was the source of multimillion-dollar payments to leaders in Nicaragua, South Africa and Panama, according to senior Taiwanese officials and government reports. It also provided financial support, legal under U.S. law, for U.S. think tanks and Washington lobbyists, they said. Several people now in senior positions in the Bush administration, as well as former Japanese prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, were beneficiaries, according to the officials and documents.
The fund operated from 1994 until 2000 under the National Security Bureau, Taiwan's main intelligence agency, with no legislative oversight. Taiwan's new president, Chen Shui-bian, closed the fund following the disappearance of one of its senior accountants, Col. Liu Kuan-chun, who allegedly embezzled $5.5 million.
Liu's whereabouts are not known. But a senior Taiwanese official said he feared Liu fled to China and might still be there, which would provide Chinese intelligence with a potential gold mine of incriminating information.
Details about the fund were revealed in secret documents published in Taiwan and Hong Kong in the last two weeks, touching off a political crisis in Taiwan. Interviews with current and former Taiwanese officials confirmed many of the events detailed in the documents and provided information about additional payments made via the fund.
That Taiwan has used money to win friends and influence people has been an open secret for decades. Its lobbying machine is one of Washington's slickest, outclassing the less practiced attempts by its Communist adversaries from China, who in the 1990s were discovered to have attempted to funnel money to the Democratic Party. Senior officials in Taiwan said they worried that Taiwan has lost its advantage in the struggle for influence now that the documents have been leaked. "People will wonder about our ability to keep things secret," said Bi-khim Hsiao, a former presidential adviser and now a legislator. "This has been a dark week for Taiwan."
The documents and interviews paint the most detailed picture yet of a small country -- 23 million inhabitants -- trying to compete against the diplomacy of the People's Republic of China.
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