Trump named the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (Tecro) in a social media post on Monday attacking the Centre for American Progress, a prominent left-leaning Washington think tank, over a report disputing his claims about the effect of National Guard deployments on violent crime.
Trump called the think tank a “radical left scam” and threatened to seek US$5 billion in damages, adding that he was “strongly considering” including some of its donors in the lawsuit.
He named Tecro – Taiwan’s de facto embassy in the US – alongside the Japanese embassy, the Korea Foundation and the embassy of the United Arab Emirates as foreign supporters of the think tank.
The remarks have raised questions in Taiwan about whether Taipei’s funding of US think tanks has become a political liability under Trump, particularly ahead of his expected summit with Xi.
Chen I-hsin, head of the culture and communications committee of the Kuomintang, Taiwan’s main opposition party, described Trump’s remarks as an “unusual diplomatic warning”.