Taiwan's сovert lobbying

Taiwan's сovert lobbying

Whoever pays, orders the music

According to US federal sources, at the end of July 2022, the American lobbying firm Ballard Partners performed $450 thousand worth of work for the government of the Central American Republic of Guatemala. The data were published on August 30, 2022 in accordance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

It seems to be a routine procedure: a small Latin American country, within the framework of American legislation, is making efforts to promote its interests. However, if you carefully read the Ballard Partners report, you will find out that the responsibility for paying for services ("responsibility for payment"), allegedly made to promote the interests of the Guatemalan government, lies with the leadership of the island of Taiwan.

Here the question arises – whose interests Washington lobbyists are promoting? Guatemalan or Taiwanese? With a high degree of probability, it can be argued that, first of all, Taiwanese, although the interests of Guatemala are also to some extent not forgotten.

The fact is that under the law on foreign agents, foreign states can use lobbying companies, but only if these subjects of international law are recognized by the United States. And Taiwan, anyway, is officially recognized by Washington as one of the provinces of the People's Republic of China (PRC), with which diplomatic relations have been established, at least for the time being.

So Taipei had to look for itself, if I may say so, a "roof" in order to circumvent American legislation.

An agreement on this form of cooperation between Taiwan and Guatemala was reached in late 2021 - early 2022. At the very beginning of 2022, President Alejandro Giammattei reaffirmed his commitment to maintaining diplomatic relations with Taipei.

Already at the end of January 2022, an agreement was reached between the island's leadership and Guatemala that Taipei would pay quarterly bills for Ballard Partners' services in the amount of $225 thousand, although the Central American country would be the official employer. Thus, Washington lobbyists began to promote the interests of two clients at the same time, although they officially have a one-year contract with the possibility of an annual extension only with Guatemala.

A special group of the company's employees, including four experienced lobbyists: Sylvester Lukis, Justin Sayfie, John O'Hanlon and Jose Diaz, has been allocated to work in the Taiwanese direction.

In this regard, it should be noted that this country is the only one in Central America and the Caribbean that advocates diplomatic relations with Taipei. The rest adhere to the course of maintaining relations with Beijing and, therefore, recognize the status of Taiwan as a Chinese province.

Nevertheless, the political dialogue between the island and Guatemala is progressing. During a visit to Taipei in September 2022, the head of Guatemala's diplomatic department, Mario Bucaro (Mario Adolfo Búcaro Flores), told correspondents of the Taiwanese government news agency Central News Agency that "regardless of the situation, Guatemala will be on Taiwan's side". According to unconfirmed reports, an agreement was reached and signed during the visit, which, in particular, emphasizes the need to "boost diplomatic cooperation and strengthen mutual support", which seems very likely.

This process, of course, causes a sharply negative reaction from Beijing. For example, in an article published on the editorial page of the China Times, a former "unofficial adviser to one of the Chinese government departments" (former part-time advisor to the Chinese government's central policy unit) stated that "Taiwan is buying friendship from Guatemala" (Taiwan is buying friendship from Guatemala).

From the Ballard Partners report submitted through FARA, it follows that the company's employees, acting as foreign agents representing the interests of Guatemala, "communicated with the American media, relevant government officials and decision makers, non-governmental organizations and other business associations in the United States."

Among the influential legislators with whom the lobbyists worked are members of the House of Representatives representing the Republican Party from Florida: Byron Donalds, Brian Mast, Maria Elvira Salazar, Mario Diaz-Balart and Carlos Gimenez. In addition, Senators Tim Kaine (Democrat from Virginia) and Marco Rubio (Republican from Florida), who is considered a very promising politician in his party and an active member of the International affairs committee of the upper house of Congress.

On July 26, 2022, Marco Rubio received $1,000 to his election campaign fund (re-elected in November 2022) from the aforementioned Ballard Partners employee Justin Sayfie. This is the maximum amount that an individual can donate to the election fund. On the same day, the lobbying company reported that its representatives met with the senator in his office in Washington, during which "relations between the United States and Guatemala, as well as OTHER INTERNATIONAL ISSUES, were discussed". It seems that these probably include issues of interest to Taipei.

It should also be noted that shortly before (July 20, 2022), a colleague of Sayfie, also mentioned above Lukis, made his "personal contribution" to the committee's cash register for the re-election of a senator from Florida ($ 1000). Answering questions from one of the American publications, Sayfie, in connection with contributions to the Rubio foundation, completely rejected the assumption of a connection between donations and a personal meeting (although we note for ourselves that the schedule of the legislator a few months before the election is scheduled literally by the minute). In addition, the representative of the lobbying firm stressed that Ballard Partners and its employees have been supporting the senator for "decades" within the framework of current legislation.

It should be noted that Rubio is a consistent supporter of the development of relations with Taipei. In 2021, he sent to the President J. Biden's letter, which contained a sharp criticism of the "Taiwan issue" during the "Summit of Democracies" organized by Washington. In particular, the recorded speech during the panel discussion of the Taiwanese Minister for Digital Technologies (Taiwanese Digital Minister) Audrey Tang sounded only in the audio version without a video sequence. This was because Taiwan was painted in a different color on the map of the region than the PRC.

In May 2022, Rubio introduced a bill aimed at removing a number of technical issues in the process of selling American weapons to Taipei, which should significantly speed up this process.

In addition, in May 2022, together with Senators Robert Menendez (Democrat from New Jersey) and Jim Risch (Republican from Idaho), Rubio sent a letter to Biden, which supported the administration's idea of including Taiwan as an independent trading partner in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework being developed.