Pelosi Brings Son Along to Taiwan. Legislators Demand Authorities Clarify Whether Commercial Interests Are Involved

It is common for U.S. politicians to frequent Taiwan. According to an Aug. 12 report by Taiwan's CTV News Channel, these political visits are regularly found to be harboring personal business agendas. In addition to Representative Nancy Pelosi being exposed for bringing her son on her trip, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were both suspected of making backstage personal and business profits during their visits, outside of their political duties. Taiwan’s Kuomintang party legislators demand that the Democratic Progressive Party investigate and provide answers.

According to the report, during his visit to Taiwan, Pompeo pressed for the U.S. to immediately grant Taiwan diplomatic recognition. However, according to a telegram from the Taiwan Representative Office in the U.S., Pompeo actively sought investment from Taiwan's labor and pension funds into the credit fund company Anarock Global Partners, for which he is a consultant. Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked authorities to investigate and deliberate on this issue. The ministry has concluded that the relevant departments were simply performing their normal duties.

This April, when Graham met with Democratic Progressive Party leader Tsai Ing-wen, he publicly asked Taiwan to purchase Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets. Oddly, the English version of the press release clearly reveals this, but in the Chinese version the keyword “jet” is completely absent.

The Taiwanese newspaper China Times reported that the Kuomintang's Legislative Yuan caucus whip Tseng Ming-chung said that Pelosi did not bring her son with her to the Legislative Yuan. However, as to whether the visit to Taiwan involved developing commercial interests, the Taiwanese are still waiting for Tsai’s authorities to provide an answer. During Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, she discussed semiconductors with the chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Kuomintang Legislator Chen I-hsin said that the government should provide a public explanation of the details of the conversation.

In response, a netizen from Taiwan said, "Paul Pelosi Jr. is on the payroll of two lithium mining companies. Asia is a lithium gold mine, and Taiwan is a manufacturer of lithium batteries ... No wonder the Pelosis insisted on coming, against all our admonitions. Our country was secretly stuffing their pockets? The Taiwanese government should disclose the list of people Paul Pelosi Jr. met with."

Another netizen derided, "The sojourns of these old politicians are all for personal profit. This isn’t a pro bono service. Crusading for democracy is just a slogan."

"The Pelosi family are all businesspeople. Even when not directly discussing business, they are paving the way for future business deals,” another wrote. Others held, "Did you think they came to improve public welfare? Of course not. They came to Taiwan to scour for easy pickings. It goes without saying."

According to Fox News, last week, Pelosi snuck her son Paul Pelosi Jr. onto her U.S. Air Force plane to Asia. Pelosi Jr.’s name is not on the official visiting group list. No clues can be found on the official website of the Speaker of the House. They do not want the outside world to know what Pelosi Jr. is doing. But if you search, you will find photos of him; he was snapped by foreign photographers in Singapore, Malaysia and Japan. Fox News host Jesse Watters scoffed, “He's not an elected official. He's not an advisor to Nancy. He doesn't even live in Washington, but he was greeted as royalty by the president of Taiwan.”

Taiwan's United Daily News reported on Aug. 11 that the U.S. and Taiwan were trying to be inconspicuous about his visit. Despite Pelosi Jr.’s presence in group photos, information and photos publicly released by the Taiwan government had no trace of him. As for whether Taiwan assisted in concealing Pelosi Jr.’s identity, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the expenditures of Pelosi's delegation visit were borne by the U.S. government, and Taiwan only provided "administrative" support.

Pelosi Jr., 52, is the House Speaker's only son. Fox News highlighted that, although U.S. media reported Pelosi's every move in the Pacific, it mysteriously did not notice that her son was alongside her. The shocking revelation, however, drew social media attention. Twitter users angrily questioned Pelosi's reckless visit to Taiwan while U.S. taxpayers foot the bill for her son's trip. Some U.S. media also questioned whether Pelosi Jr.’s trip to Asia was coining money for the Pelosi clan kitty by peddling influence.