After working with more than 10 Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairpersons, Michael Fonte, a Brooklyn native who is the director of the DPP’s Washington mission, is set to retire from the position, coinciding with the end of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) tenure.
Over the past decade, Fonte has been working to assist the DPP in understanding US policy and facilitating mutual understanding between the two sides, as well as shedding light on Taiwan’s political landscape for the US.
In a recent media interview, Fonte, 83, said the mission was reinstated in 2013 following a 2011 decision made amid a DPP public relations crisis.
Photo courtesy opf the DPP via CNA
In September that year, a Financial Times story quoted a senior US official expressing significant doubts about then-DPP presidential candidate Tsai’s ability or willingness to uphold peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. The news story broke while Tsai was visiting Washington in 2011.
During her visit, she met with two members of the US National Security Council — Daniel Russel and Evan Medeiros — said Fonte, who was then the DPP’s liaison in Washington.
Both “weren’t satisfied with her answers” to their questions, Fonte said, adding there was a concern that Tsai might be a Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) 2.0, under whose presidency from 2000 to 2008, there was heightened tension across the Taiwan Strait amid his pro-independence leaning agenda.
To dispel misconceptions, the DPP re-established its mission in Washington in June 2013, and Fonte became its inaugural director, handling communications between the DPP and the US.
The mission, first established in 1995, closed in 2000 when the DPP came into power, to avoid overlapping with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US, Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington.
Reflecting on his decade of work, Fonte said he believes the mission has made significant strides forward.
His tasks entail regularly holding meetings with high-level US officials and attending events organized by think tanks across the political spectrum.
“I’ve certainly enjoyed myself immensely,” he said, adding that earning the trust of people in Taiwan and the US, as well as being an honest interlocutor has been crucial for effectively carrying out his role.
Fonte first came to Taiwan in 1967 in his 20s, when he served as a Catholic missionary in central Taiwan.
His Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese) teachers taught him the language and gave him a sense of how difficult life was for ethnic Taiwanese under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government-imposed martial law.
“I went to Taiwan expecting to work on social justice programs, such as community building, to help people improve their lives ... but the problem was, even if I wanted to do that, if anybody worked with me, the government didn’t like that,” he said.
Fonte left Taiwan in 1970 feeling frustrated and began pursuing a degree in Asian studies at the University of Michigan, where he encountered late political dissidents such as Peng Ming-min (彭明敏).
He started to acquaint himself with overseas Taiwanese who were involved in pursuing human rights and democracy.
A year after the formation of the DPP in 1986, the Washington-based National Democratic Institute invited the party founders to visit the capital.
Fonte was invited by Peng to serve as the founders’ “gofer” around the city, given his ability to speak Hoklo.
Fonte said he is stepping down at this time because of age and as he believes Taiwan and US ties have never been closer.
He said that he also owes it to his wife, who has a bucket list of retirement plans she wants to fulfill.
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