With Taiwan Call, Trump May Have Risked National Security To Promote Real Estate Project

Trump Organization Reportedly Wants To Build Luxury Hotels In East Asian State

On Friday, Donald Trump shockingly broke with four decades of diplomatic policy, becoming the first president or president-elect to speak with a Taiwanese leader since 1979.

Trump’s unscripted 10-plus-minute phone call with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen threatens to cause a major rift between the US and regional superpower China, which views Taiwan as a breakaway province.  

Trump later claimed on Twitter — apparently his preferred venue for discussing sensitive foreign policy issues — that the Taiwanese leader initiated the call to congratulate him on his victory. However, Trump’s team acknowledged in a statement that the two also discussed “close economic, political, and security ties” between the US and Taiwan. 

Later Friday, we learned of another possible reason for the call. 

Back in September, The Taiwan News reported that a representative from Trump’s real estate company had recently visited Taiwan to express interest in building luxury hotels and resorts in Taoyuan City. 

“A woman working for the Trump Organization came to Taoyuan in September, declaring the company’s investment interest in Taiwan’s Taoyuan Aerotropolis, a large urban planning development project surrounding the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport,” The Taiwan News reported.

Amanda Miller, a spokeswoman for the Trump Organization, is now denying that the company has any interest in building in Taiwan, according to The New York Times. Miller is also denying that anyone from the Trump Organization made an authorized visit to Taiwan. However, the Trump Organization’s sales manager for Asia, Anne-Marie Donoghue, reported on her Facebook page in October that she was in Taiwan on a “work trip.” 

Trump’s Taiwan call is just the latest — and perhaps the most extreme — example of how his worldwide business interests could represent huge conflicts of interest and pose grave threats to national security.

Also Friday, Trump spoke with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and invited him to visit the US. Duterte now says that during the call, Trump even endorsed the Philippine leader’s brutal anti-drug campaign, in which he’s encouraged police to kill dealers and users, resulting in more than 2,000 extra-judicial deaths. 

Back in October, Duterte named one of Trump’s business partners in the Philipines, Jose Antonin, as special envoy to the US.