Taiwan has lost out to China in the merger of two Washington-based lobbying companies.
While the details are being kept secret, the giant Patton Boggs has in effect taken over the boutique Breaux Lott Leadership Group.
Both companies make a living by “lobbying” or persuading members of the US Congress and other politicians to adopt policies promoted by their clients.
In this merger, the dominant Patton Boggs has China as a client, while the much smaller Breaux Lott has Taiwan.
As a result, Taiwan is being dropped by the newly merged firm.
In a contract negotiated in May of last year with Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office Representative Jason Yuan (袁健生), Breaux Lott has been receiving US$35,000 a month to represent Taiwan.
It is not known how much China has been paying Patton Boggs, but it is presumably much more.
Breaux Lott was run by former Democratic senator John Breaux of Louisiana and former Republican senator Trent Lott of Mississippi. They will both now work for the new company, but it is not known if they will be part of the China account.
If so, they will have to make a dramatic U-turn on some issues, such as arms sales.
According to published reports, Breaux and Lott had a contract with Taiwan that required them to “advance and promote” Taiwan “at all levels of the departments and agencies of the US Government.”
They were also obliged to help Taiwanese officials with “introductions to and negotiations with senior officials” of the US government.
Lott was supposed to work “diligently to exhort members of Congress and the United States Senate to act favorably on matters of interest and benefit to Taiwan.”
In addition, he was to provide recommendations and advice on how best to improve relations between Taiwan and the US.
The decision by the new lobbying company to drop Taiwan has caused quite a stir in Washington political circles involved in Asian issues.
Coen Blaauw, executive director of the Formosan Association for Public Relations, said: “If relations between Taiwan and China are so good, why can't the new firm work for both countries?”
“But no, they can't,” Blaauw said.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia