Does Taiwan Favor Trump in the U.S. Election？
News Compiled and Reported by Taiwan Weekly
The Washington Post in a recent news article hinted that the government of Taiwan is in favor of the Republican candidate, President Donald Trump, in the U.S. presidential election. To clarify the government's position, President Tsai Ing-wen held a high-level national security meeting on October 31 declaring that the top priority of her administration in foreign policy is to deepen the friendly relations with both the Republican and Democratic parties to secure a bipartisan support of the United States for a democratic Taiwan.
Titled “Taiwan frets over how a Biden administration would deal with China,” the Washington Post article on November 30 reported that “when Tsai was inaugurated for a second term in May, editors compiling a video montage of congratulatory messages cut Democrats and added emphasis on Republican well-wishers such as Representative Ted Yoho from Florida, said two people familiar with the matter. The result was striking enough that Taiwanese officials later apologized to Democrats, one of the people said.
The Washington Post further reported that “officially, Taiwan's government has stressed that it does not favor any candidate. But observers have noted Taiwanese government Twitter accounts sharing an article from the right-wing Breitbart news site and, on Tuesday, retweeting first lady Melania Trump's post appealing to the battleground state of Pennsylvania.”
The same article also pointed out that after weighing the possibility of a Democratic victory in the U.S. presidential election, current and former officials in the Taiwanese government and Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have privately expressed concern that a return of Obama-era foreign policy advisers in a potential Biden administration could mean a U.S. approach that is more conciliatory toward China compared with the Trump administration's — and less supportive of Taiwan.
The Washington Post’s article mentioned that Taiwan's new envoy to Washington, Bi-khim Hsiao, has ramped up outreach efforts to the Democrats as she has sought to sound out how certain advisers in Biden's circle would influence China policy. But she and other representatives from friendly governments have not been able to meet with some core members of Biden's team.
Bi-khim Hsiao responded on Twitter saying “I want to reiterate that our government does not take positions on U.S. elections. Since arriving in Washington, I have reached out to new friends and old friends in both parties, and I appreciate the bipartisan support and friendship for Taiwan.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said it was a “mistake” of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the United States (TECRO) to retweet first lady Melania Trump's post, and TECRO had immediately deleted the retweet when they discovered the mistake.
Both the Office of the President and MOFA maintained that many pieces of video montage of congratulatory messages were adjusted and edited. It was fully explained to and communicated with the foreign dignitaries sending the congratulations. We receive no objection from any member of the U.S. Congress; therefore, any speculation of an apology to the Democrats was simply not true.
The same Washington Post article also mentioned Taiwanese people’s support for Donald Trump, citing an October polls by YouGov showing Taiwan to be the only one out of 15 European and Asian states that favored Trump over Biden.
According to a report of the Deutsche Welle, the above YouGov polls showed that 42 percent of Taiwan interviewees want Trump to win the election, whereas 30 percent want Biden. The same polls also showed that 45 percent of Taiwanese people tend to think President Trump once elected will have positive impact on Taiwan, whereas only 26 percent think Biden will bring positive impact on Taiwan.
One of the reasons that Taiwanese people favor the Trump administration is because President Trump has agreed to sell Taiwan large volume of arms despite the opposition from Beijing.
On October 26, just one week before the election, the Trump administration announced an arms sales package of 100 Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems (HCDS) to Taiwan. This was the fourth major arms sales packages in 7 days, consisting of 400 RGM-84L-4 Harpoon Block II medium-range, surface-launched, anti-ship missiles, with a total value of US$2.37 billion. The Block II missile includes a GPS receiver and advanced flight-control system to navigate its way to its target more precisely even in complex littoral environments. This is the ninth arms sales to Taiwan under the Trump administration.
On October 21, the U.S. Department of State approved the arms sales packages to Taiwan including 11 M142 high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) launchers, 135 AGM-84H standoff land attack missile expanded response (SLAM-ER) missiles and 6 MS-110 multispectral airborne reconnaissance pods and related equipment, with a total value of US$1.8 billion.
Due to the fact that the U.S. election and 5th Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China will have deep impact on U.S.-China and Cross-Strait relations, President Tsai, in the high-level national security meeting, said that history has proven that showing weakness and making concessions has never brought peace, to deal with China’s military threat, Taiwan will continue to enhance the modernization of defensive combat capabilities, upgrade asymmetric combat capabilities, promote self-defense capabilities, and reform the military reserve mobilization system to respond to the expansion and provocations of military activities from across the Taiwan Strait.
President Tsai also instructed the Coast Guard Administration and the National Police Agency to ensure that they maintain public safety, prevent the spread of disinformation, and strengthen the security and protection of public infrastructure. Following her instruction, the National Police Agency has issued a general instruction to all police units to set up third level joint command centers between October 31 and November 14 to secure public safety.
Kuomintang Chairman Johnny Chiang urged the Tsai administration to maintain an equal distance approach in conducting foreign policy and refrain from interfering in internal affairs of other countries. Chiang reminded President Tsai and foreign missions to pay special attention in words and deeds, as the matter is critical to Taiwan’s national interests.