时论广场》国民党的争宠之路（方恩格 Ross Darrell Feingold）

国民党党主席朱立伦（右）、台北市议员罗智强（左）。（本报资料照片）

经过几番波折，国民党主席朱立伦终于宣告要在5月展开他的访美行程。在这之前，国民党频频对美国民主党展开示好动作，例如他们抢在推特发文欢迎美国众议院议长裴洛西访台，并呼求希望能与她在访台期间会面聊聊。笔者多次公开表示，国民党以如此高调方式宣告世人他们对美国的求好举动，既不会让美国政界突然对他们产生好感，也不会让台湾选民对他们另眼相看。所以笔者在此再度呼吁国民党可能要做好「热脸贴冷屁股」的心理建设。

过去拜登总统在任职参议员期间曾支持多项动物权利相关立法，而动物权利组织最近也公开赞扬了他近来积极推动动保的作为。也许国民党自以为在动物身上可以找到与拜登的交集，他们与民众党、时代力量一起推动「动保入宪」。笔者身为美国律师，认为将动物保护纳入宪法，而非透过相关法规来提供对动物的保护，即使世界上有少数国家将动物保护列入宪法，但以法律观点而言，这仍属十分罕见的做法。

今年3月初，曾为共和党和民主党总统服务的前参谋首长联席会议主席穆伦率领代表团访问台湾。其他代表团成员包括曾在共和党执政时期任职的葛林(Michael Green) （值得一提的是，葛林虽是共和党，但他当年曾公开质疑川普的当选）和欧苏利文 (Meghan O'Sullivan)此外，还有在民主党政府中任职的佛洛诺伊（Michele Flournoy）和麦艾文（Evan Medeiros）。这般组合有人称之为「跨党派代表团」，但毕竟这是由拜登政府派出的代表团，因此本质上仍属民主党的代表团。这个代表团早于共和党前国务卿蓬佩奥来台的前几天抢先访台，看来也是让民主党占了上风。

对拜登政府而言，他的代表团能在蓬佩奥访台之前夺取国际媒体版面，算是有了面子，而对蔡政府而言，让拜登政府的代表团先出风头，或许能稍微安抚拜登政府对于台湾政府邀请了他们的死对头蓬佩奥来台这件事所产生的不满。

国民党在推特放上了精美的代表团人物图表示欢迎「老朋友」的到来，而拜登团队的代表团也终于如国民党之愿于在台期间会见了他们（国民党这次总算扳回点面子，毕竟他们千呼万唤努力说服蔡政府能让这个代表团来台时加入与国民党会面的行程）。然而称此代表团为「老朋友」，这样的用词在美国人看来流于一厢情愿的套关系与装熟。

3月下旬，美国前国务卿欧布莱特去世。国民党在推特上发文称「她在国务卿任内表现辉煌、为台海带来了和平。」讽刺的是，在1998年欧布莱特担任国务卿期间，总统柯林顿在造访中国时公开宣告了他的对台政策：「我们不支持台独、不支持两个中国、也不支持一台一中。」 他随后也表示：「台湾不应该出现在任何能展现国家地位的国际组织中」，此即史上有名的「柯林顿对台三不政策」。尽管当时柯林顿政府强调他们只是重申美国现有政策、并未做出新的政策变动。到了1999年，欧布莱特却又与时任中国外长唐家璇在共同记者会上重申「对台三不」。自此之后历任的台湾政府一直努力试图摆脱柯林顿所宣布的对台三不。对于欧布莱特逝世，蔡英文总统与外交部也有在推特上表示哀悼，但并没有赞扬她在两岸和平关系中扮演了什么角色。然而国民党的发文却强调欧布莱特为台海带来的贡献卓越，不禁让人替他们捏把冷汗。

让我们来看看共和党的对台关系，回顾冷战期间，当时的共和党直言不讳主张美国应保卫台湾，这个精神在过去30年来一直延续至今，近年来共和党更是大力支持对台军售、主张更紧密的美台关系。就政治光谱来看，共和党与国民党通常被定位于中间偏右，也就是俗称的保守派，然而共和党无论在主打的政策上（例如提倡美国应该减少联邦政府权力采取「小政府」）或是对社会问题所采取的保守观点上，则与国民党提出的政策却鲜少有交集。

有趣的是，位于政治光谱不同边的民进党与共和党，反倒是基于抗中的共同立场，开始建立起越来越密切的关系，然而除了对中议题之外，属进步（progressive）派、偏左的民进党与共和党在其他社会议题与政策上也可说是缺乏共通点。

如果朱立伦主席企图利用这趟访美时跟共和党拉近关系，建议可以作一些功课，在例如抗中、堕胎权、性别少数、能源等议题上找出一些能与共和党对谈的同调话题，才有机会获取共和党的芳心。但鉴于美国现在由民主党执政，现在国民党想讨好民主党的作为，看来反倒像是在跟民主进步党争民主党的宠。（作者为前美国共和党亚太区主席）

英文全文：

The Democratic Partyization of the Kuomintang?

By Ross Darrell Feingold

Former Asia Chairman, Republicans Abroad

Twitter: @RossFeingold

After several changes to the timing, the visit to the United States of Chinese Nationalist Party (or Kuomintang) Chairman Eric Chu is to occur before the summer. Recent actions by the Kuomintang indicate that prior to Chu’s visit to Washington DC and meetings with the United States government, the Kuomintang is trying to publicly express its affection for President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party. The speed at which the Kuomintang tweeted on April 7 th that it “hopes to exchange views with” U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi of the Democratic Party when she visits Taiwan is but one example.

However, this author has previously publicly commented that such actions neither help the Kuomintang attract votes in Taiwan, nor result in public statements of support for the Kuomintang from either the Biden Administration or Members of Congress. Recent Kuomintang actions are unlikely to change these realities.

The Kuomintang (along with the Taiwan People’s Party and the New Power Party) have advocated for animal protection to be incorporated into the Constitution during the current round of constitutional reform. As an American trained lawyer, this author views the inclusion of animal protection in a constitution (rather providing for animal protection via laws and regulations) to be unusual, notwithstanding some countries include animal rights in their constitution.

President Joe Biden, when he was a Senator, supported numerous animal rights related legislation, and animal rights groups recently praised the first year of his presidency for “positive action” on animal rights. Perhaps the Kuomintang’s proposal to include animal protection in the Constitution is an attempt to make a favorable impression on President Biden, even though the idea will be met with scorn by Republicans, who usually support hunter rights.

In early March, a delegation led by Michael Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and who served under both Republican and Democratic presidents, visited Taiwan. Other delegation members included individuals who severed in Republican administrations Michael Green ad Meghan O'Sullivan (though Green publicly opposed the election of Donald Trump), and two individuals who served in Democratic administrations, Michèle Flournoy and Evan Medeiros. Although some described it as a “bi-partisan” delegation, it was dispatched by the Biden administration, and thus, was inherently a Democratic Party delegation. In addition, its arrival days before former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Taipei was a partisan move, whether by the Biden administration to try to mitigate media coverage of Pompeo’s visit, or, by the Tsai administration to mitigate Biden administration anger that Taiwan hosted a vocal critic of Biden’s foreign policy.

The Kuomintang tweeted about welcoming “old friends”, and the delegation met with the Kuomintang (a small victory for the Kuomintang which has struggled to convince the Tsai administration to arrange for visiting dignitaries to include the Kuomintang on their itinerary). However, to call this Democratic Party and Biden administration delegation “old friends” simply because some people in the Kuomintang might have become acquainted with the delegation members when they worked in the U.S. government (or at think tanks) comes across to this American as pandering to the Biden Administration.

Later in March, former United States Secretary of State Madeline Albright passed way. The Kuomintang tweeted “Her legacy as secretary of state helped bring peace to Taiwan Strait”. In fact, during her tenure as Secretary of State, President Bill Clinton visited China in June 1998 and publicly said that his Taiwan policy is “we don't support independence for Taiwan, or 'two Chinas', or "one Taiwan, one China', and we don't believe that Taiwan should be a member in any organization for which statehood is a requirement." This came to be known as Clinton’s Three Nos about Taiwan, and although the Clinton Administration denied it was a change in U.S. policy and merely restated existing U.S. policy, for years afterward Taiwan tried to persuade subsequent U.S. governments not to frame U.S. policy towards Taiwan the same way as Clinton did. In September 1999, at a press conference with then China Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, Albright reiterated the Three Nos. Albright certainly does not deserve praise for bringing peace to the Taiwan Strait.

Tweets from both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and President Tsai about Albright’s death expressed condolences but did not inaccurately praise her for a role in China – Taiwan peace that she did not perform.

During the Cold War, Republican politicians were more outspoken advocates for the United States to defend Taiwan. Generally, this continued over the past thirty years, with Republicans more eager to support weapons sales to Taiwan, advocate for closer US-Taiwan relations, and recently, to criticize China. In addition, the Republican Party and the Kuomintang nominally share right-of-center or “conservative” philosophies, though in reality the Republican Party’s support for small government and conservative views on social issues are not currently Kuomintang policies.

Recently however, and only because of their shared views on China, the Democratic Progressive Party has developed excellent relations with Republican politicians even though Democratic Progressive Party politicians otherwise have little in common with Republicans on policy issues.

Perhaps Chairman Chu when he visits Republican Members of Congress will say that the Kuomintang’s views on China are identical to the Democratic Progressive Party government. If he can do that, and, emphasize that the Kuomintang opposes abortion rights, opposes legal protections for gay, bisexual and transgender persons, opposes policies that replace oil and gas with renewables such as the Democratic Party’s “Green New Deal”, and shares the faith-based beliefs that are also core to most Republicans, then perhaps Republicans will resume their romance with the Kuomintang.

But given that President Biden is a Democrat, and based on the examples cited above, it seems that the Kuomintang is instead trying to out Democrat the Democratic Progressive Party.