林德宜：台湾昂贵的进口战狼

台湾记者李安迪最近在社交媒体上揭露，英国任期最短、名誉扫地的前首相特拉斯日前访台的幕后推手就是台湾“远景基金会”。

在一段视频中，李透露，该基金会花费了数百万纳税人的钱，安排备受瞩目的反华政客到访台湾。在他看来，这已经威胁到台海稳定，而台湾民众也对此非常不满。

特拉斯并不是唯一出访台北的高酬劳“战狼”。反之，一大群“战狼”陆续浮现，特别是来自西方者，以“保护”台湾人免受中国崛起所带来的新黄祸影响，以及应对中国对西方霸权和世界秩序主导地位的挑战。

台湾进口的战狼——有3个鲜明的特征。他们喜欢把中国视为“猎物”，通常是名声不佳的政客，并且需要大笔资金和其他津贴才能离开自己的领地去别处“狩猎”。与真正狼犬所不同的是，这些“政治动物”更喜欢单独出击以取得最大化回报。

特拉斯访台主要出资人“远景基金会”是台湾智库，成立于1997年。根据维基百科，其任务是分析两岸关系和国际政治经济，为台湾政府提供政策建议。

该基金会的部分财力虽然也用于与其他地区智库的合作活动，但有相当部分则用于邀请著名的反华政客与台湾总统合照、发表演讲和参与旨在反中的活动，以进一步推动西方对抗和打倒中国的目标。

至于，该基金会支付了多少金钱和酬劳来引进这只洋战狼，以支持台湾现政府脱离中国独立，并通过抹黑中国来保住权力，这一切并不为公众所知。

无论如何，这些进口战狼可都不便宜。

战狼费用

特拉斯方面，也没有提供关于她台湾之行经费。不过，据英国《镜报》报导，这位前首相早前到印度出席一项仅四个小时的会议行程时，不只获主办方包办了酒店、机票费用，也获得了一笔6万5751.62英镑（约37.8万令吉）酬劳。这个数字是英国年均工资的两倍！这也只是特拉斯众多演讲活动之一。

因此，特拉斯这次台湾之行酬金很可能更高——可能是几千万新台币（超过百万令吉）。因为对中国抨击越猛烈，付给这种战狼的费用就越高。

在特拉斯台湾之行中，她呼吁“自由”国家给予承诺捍卫台湾自主，并以具体措施给予支持。她更提出建立一个“经济北约”来应对北京。作为著名的战狼，特拉斯毫不顾忌地提倡军事和非军事政策应对中国，这旨在破坏或摧毁民众的经济生计，以“捍卫”她的“民主和世界秩序”。

上海外国语大学研究员李冠杰就形容特拉斯为“落伍的二流政客”，对于远景基金会来说更不幸的是，特拉斯甚至在英国的反华媒体眼中也几乎没有可信度。

她最近就被追讨在2021年担任外交部长期间，涉及个人开支的1万5000美元（6.9万令吉）而登上新闻头条。这些开支包括丢失官邸内公家的浴袍，她因此被批评为卑鄙和贪婪。

中国《环球时报》在她访台后发表的一篇专栏文章称，“这（访台）是对中国的挑衅计划”，也是美国和西方过时政客圈子里“流行”作风。该评论文章认为特拉斯“在英国形像不好”，并将她对台湾的访问评价为“糟糕”。“这不仅是对中国内政的粗暴干涉，也是在给英国挖坑。她可以被称为伦敦的猪队友。”

其他著名的反华战狼还包括澳洲前总理阿博特（新近加入反华狼群者）和美国前众议院议长南希佩洛西。他们访台的经费是由远景基金会和其他来源不详的台湾资金所支付。

台湾最高荣誉回报

佩洛西的出访是官方访问，据估计，仅安保费用一项，美国纳税人就花费了超过9000万美元（4.15亿令吉）。

佩洛西访台虽被批为机会主义、无益的和煽动战争之行，但她获得了台湾最高荣誉回报，获台湾总统蔡英文颁发“特种大绶卿云勋章”。卿云勋章设于1941年，为台湾的最高荣誉。可靠的消息来源称，佩洛西也极有可能获得美国最高勋章──总统自由勋章。这个勋章今年得奖名单应该很快就会公布。

蔡英文颁奖给佩洛西时形容后者是“台湾最忠实的朋友之一”，之后更在台北迎宾馆设午宴款待佩洛西，与会包括台湾科技界大老。根据台湾领导人的脸书帖子，午宴甜点就有“佩洛西最爱的黑巧克力冰淇淋”！

在宴会上，蔡英文、佩洛西也与台湾最大的半导体制造商台积电的创始人兼董事长张忠谋“就深化台美关系交换了意见”。 

也许佩洛西就在那次谈话中表达了她的观点，即如果中国统一台湾，美国可能不得不摧毁台积电。

与其将台湾纳税人的钱花在从美国、英国、澳洲和其他美国盟友进口战狼，远景基金会更应把其大量资源用来帮助实现台湾与中国的和平统一。 这个更值得与中国和东南亚国家智库一起探索的目标，也将便宜得多。

林德宜《台湾昂贵的进口战狼》原文：Taiwan’s Expensive Imported Wolf Warriors

A recent social media expose by Taiwanese journalist Andy Lee identified Taiwan’s "Prospect Foundation" as what can be described as the godfather behind the trip of UK's shortest-serving and discredited prime minister, Liz Truss, to Taiwan. 

In a video presentation, Lee revealed that the foundation has spent millions in taxpayers' money to have high-profile anti-China politicians visit Taiwan. To him, this has threatened the stability of the Taiwan Straits, and ordinary Taiwanese are very unhappy about it (https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSLNYDjLx/).

Liz Truss is not the only highly paid "wolf warrior" appearing in Taipeh. An entire pack of wolves has appeared especially from the West to 'protect' Taiwanese from the new Yellow Peril associated with the rise of China and its challenge to western hegemony and dominance of the world order.

Taiwan's imported wolf warriors - genus canis lupus occidentalis and canis lupus lupus primarily - have 3 distinct characteristics. They favour China as their prey, are generally discredited politicians, and require large sums of money and other perks to leave their home territories to hunt elsewhere. Unlike their animal counterparts, these 'political animals' prefer to work alone to maximise the return.

The importing paymaster, Prospect Foundation, is a think tank based in Taiwan. Established in 1997, its mission according to a wikipaedia post is to analyse the Cross-Taiwan-Strait relations and international politics and economy and provide suggestions of policies for Taiwan government.

Although some of the foundation’s financial resources are spent on collaborative activities with other regional think tanks, a considerable portion is used to bring prominent anti-China politicians to enjoy photo opportunities with the Taiwanese president and to deliver speeches and participate in events aimed at condemning China and furthering the case for the West to confront and bring down China.

How much money and perks is paid by the foundation to import foreign wolves to support the current Taiwanese government in its bid to seek independence from China and retain power in the country by villifying China is not public knowledge. 

These imported wolf warriors do not come cheap. 

How much was Truss paid

Liz Truss has not provided information on how much she was paid for her private trip to Taiwan.  According to the British newspaper Mirror, the former prime minister was paid ￡65,751.62 to attend a conference in India for just four hours on top of paid hotel, flights and expenses ( https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/liz-truss-earns-16500-per-29784243) This figure is twice the annual average salary in Britain!  That engagement is one of the many speaking gigs Truss has been taking. 

It is very likely that she was paid a much higher fee for her Taiwan trip - perhaps tens of million Taiwanese dollars. This is because the more fierce the attacks against China, the higher the fees that will be paid to this species of wolf warrior.

Thus in Liz Truss case, she has called on ‘free’ nations to commit themselves to a ‘free’ Taiwan and to back it up with concrete measures. Specifically she called for an “economic Nato” to tackle Beijing.  As a prominent war wolf, Truss has no scruples in advocating both military and non military policies with the latter aimed at damaging or destroying the economic livelihoods of ordinary people to ‘defend’ her version of ‘democracy and the world order’. 

Described by Li Guanjie, a research fellow at the Shanghai International Studies University as a “washed-out, second-rate politician”, Liz Truss, unfortunately for Prospect Foundation, has little credibility even in Britain’s anti China media. 

She was most recently headlined as trying to avoid paying for US $15,000 worth of personal expenses incurred when she was foreign secretary in 2021. These expenses include bath robes which went missing and for which she has been criticised for being an accessory to grubbiness and greed.

An op-ed in the Global Times following her visit said the “provocative plan against China” was “somewhat ‘fashionable’ in the circles of obsolete politicians in the US and the West”. The opinion article submitted that Ms Truss has a “bad personal image in the UK” and described her visit to Taiwan as “egregious”. “It is not only a brutal interference in China’s internal affairs, but also digging holes for the UK. She can be called London’s ‘bad teammate’."

Other Prominent Western Wolf Warriors

Other prominent wolf warriors have included former Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, a relative newcomer to the anti China wolf pack, and US House speaker Nancy Pelosi. Their fees paid by Prospect Foundation and other Taiwanese sources is unknown. 

Pelosi's trip was an official one and is estimated to have cost the US taxpayer over US90 million in security costs alone.  

In return for what has been described by critics as an opportunistic, unhelpful and war mongering visit, she was given Taiwan’s highest honour, The Order of Propitious Clouds with Special Grand Cordon by Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-wen. The award, established in 1941, is considered Taiwan’s highest honor. Reliable sources have shared that she is minimally expecting the US highest award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in return. This award should be forthcoming soon. 

When presenting Pelosi with the award, Tsai described her as “one of Taiwan’s most devoted friends.” and treated her to lunch at the presidential palace with top Taiwanese tech executives. According to a Faceboom post by the Taiwanese leader, they had “Pelosi’s favorite dark chocolate ice cream” for dessert!
Tsai and Pelosi also shared a meal with Morris Chang, the founder and chairman of Taiwan’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer, TSMC, and “exchanged views on deepening Taiwan-U.S. relations,” Tsai said.

Perhaps Pelosi may have shared her opinion during that conversation about plans that the US may have to destroy TSMC should reunification of China and Taiwan take place.

Prospect Foundation’s More Constructive Mission

Rather than spending Taiwanese taxpayers money on imported wolf warriors from the US, Britain, Australia and other US allies, Prospect Foundation should deploy its considerable resources in helping bring about the peaceful reunification of Taiwan with China.  This more worthwhile objective to be explored with think tanks from China and Southeast Asian nations would also be much less expensive.