A cognitive warfare campaign was started to fuel skepticism about Taiwan-US relations following a news conference on President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming visits to Pacific allies, a source said yesterday.
The Presidential Office on Friday announced that Lai is to lead a delegation to visit the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau from Saturday next week to Dec. 6, with the goal of enhancing cooperation and partnerships with Taiwan’s diplomatic allies.
Plans for the president’s transit during the South Pacific trip are still being finalized, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said, adding that the government would make an announcement on the final plans “at an appropriate time.”
Photo: Reuters
However, disinformation regarding the visits is being disseminated, creating a false narrative that the US was giving Lai “discriminatory treatment” due to “worsened” Taiwan-US relations and Washington’s “suspicions” of Lai, a source familiar with national security issues said yesterday on condition of anonymity.
Some said that Lai would not be able to transit through the contiguous US, but it is customary for Taiwanese presidents to travel through US outlying islands in the Pacific Ocean while visiting South Pacific allies, they said.
For example, then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) transited through Hawaii during outbound and return trips in a visit to Central American allies in 2014, the source said.
“Would anyone say the visit [made by Ma] was downgraded twice?” they asked.
Despite rumors that Lai is treated worse than his predecessors Ma and former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the US government’s handling of Taiwanese presidents’ transit through its territories significantly improved during Tsai’s presidency, the source said.
Reports on Ma’s transit in US territories were not allowed during his presidency, they said, adding that it was when Tsai assumed office that the US government chose to take a step forward and pass a bill lifting the restrictions.
That attested to Washington’s faith in the Democratic Progressive Party as a more reliable government worthy of dialogue and cooperation, the source said.
A local media editorial on Friday said that Washington treated Tsai with a preferential “stopover combo” during her transit in the US last year by promising “safety, comfort, dignity and convenience,” but responded to queries about Lai’s upcoming visits by simply saying that no further information could be provided.
Citing the editorial, the source said such narratives attempted to foster the illusion that Washington harbors suspicions of Lai and is giving him discriminatory treatment.
However, asked about Ma’s first transit in the US West Coast in 2008, then-US Department of State spokesperson Gonzalo Gallegos gave a similar reply, saying that no official statement could be offered, they said.
Washington has been receiving Taiwanese presidents under the principle of “safety, comfort, dignity and convenience” since 2000, whether it was former US president George Bush with former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), former US president Barack Obama with Ma, former US president and president-elect Donald Trump with Tsai, or US President Joe Biden with Lai, the source said.
Washington’s attitude toward Taiwanese presidents’ stopovers would not change because it is a different time or due to international situations, and its continued assistance despite regime changes shows the solid ties between Taiwan and the US, they said.
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