Douglas Paal, who will soon become the head of the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), boasts lengthy credentials when it comes to East Asian affairs, but his penchant for speaking his mind has landed him in hot water in the past.
"In the longer term, every [US] administration will be affected by Taiwan's own situation, its status, in the minds of the people globally and domestically. And that is the quality of pursuing democracy, honest elections, good governance and moderate behavior internationally."
With that thought, Douglas Paal summed up Taiwan's role in US policy in a China News Agency interview in 1999 marking the 20th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act that governs US-Taiwan dealings.
In choosing Paal to carry out his Taiwan policy, US President George W. Bush picked a man with long credentials in Republican administrations, life-long expertise in China and East Asian affairs, and a willingness to say what's on his mind that has bruised many Washington egos and almost cost him the AIT posting.
A firm supporter of Taiwan and bitter critic of the Bill Clinton administration's Taiwan policies, Paal nevertheless has been an advocate of improved US-China relations. Such advocacy has put him on the outs with some key conservatives in Washington who feel he is too "soft" on China and might compromise Taiwan. Many intellectuals and government officials in Taiwan are said to agree with that assessment.
Conservatives' disenchantment with Paal began with his stint as the top Asia expert in the National Security Council of former president George Bush. Conservative congressional staffers blame Paal for being behind two ill-fated trips to Beijing by then-national security adviser Brent Scowcroft in July and December 1989 to try to salvage US-China relations after the Tiananmen Square massacre in June of that year.
Nine years later, in June 1998, Paal upset others in Washington by calling for a moratorium on US arms sales to Taiwan until the Taiwan military learned how to use the armaments Washington had sold it thus far. He made the statement, observers recall, during a conference in Washington of Taipei's Council of Advanced Political Studies. Paal first called for a halt to the arms sales and then clarified his comments to call for a moratorium, one attendee said.
When Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) won his widely unexpected victory in the March 2000 presidential elections, Paal wrote in the International Herald Tribune about the "turbulence" that the election could cause in the Washington-Beijing-Taipei equation.
At one point he reportedly suggested that the Clinton administration might hold off on a decision regarding arms sales to Taiwan, slated for April 2000, until after Chen was inaugurated in May and had a chance to settle in.
After that suggestion, some began to describe Paal as anti-DPP and even anti-Taiwan democracy.
Long-time friends and associates of Paal deny that he is pro-Beijing or would compromise Taiwan. They portray his writings and statements as an effort to objectively analyze the twists and turns of US relations with China and Taiwan, and an effort to keep ideology out of his scholarship -- not a reflection of his personal bent.
"I know that he was personally extremely impressed at the time the DPP was formed. He said it had taken great courage to do this," said a long-time friend, adding, "I find it hard to imagine that he would oppose democratization in Taiwan."
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