TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday that Taiwan’s cooperation with US think tanks is unrelated to US domestic politics, expressing regret over what it described as the “deliberate manipulation” of information concerning Taiwan-US relations.
The Center for American Progress released a report July 13 arguing that the deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles had failed to produce a measurable impact on crime while costing roughly US$1.7 billion (NT$54 billion), per The Guardian.
After threatening to file a US$5 billion lawsuit against the think tank, US President Donald Trump renewed the threat Monday and suggested that contributors, potentially including the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, could also be targeted.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee Chair Chen I-hsin (陳以信) responded to Trump’s threats by suggesting that being singled out by the president could signal a need for Taiwan to reconsider its approach to relations with the US, per UDN. He said although Taiwan’s cooperation with US think tanks has traditionally been bipartisan, the foreign ministry might need to reconsider funding or cooperating with think tanks hostile toward Trump.
Chen also criticized the DPP administration’s claim that Taiwan-US relations are at their strongest point in history, saying the assertion should be reconsidered if Trump believes Taiwan has supported a hostile think tank. He called on the government to provide a comprehensive explanation of its cooperation with the Center for American Progress and the circumstances surrounding Trump’s threat.
The ministry rejected the criticism, saying Taiwan’s cooperation with US think tanks focuses on research related to Indo-Pacific security, supply chain resilience, and critical technologies, per CNA. The ministry stressed that such cooperation does not concern US domestic politics and should not be used as a tool for political maneuvering.
The ministry also emphasized that Taiwan-US relations have continued to improve since Trump took office.
