Taiwan Consultants

* Jim Mann’s column of July 12 criticizes the engagement of Cassidy & Associates and two of its sister firms by the Taiwan Studies Institute. I would like to set the record straight on his major points.

Mann challenges the need for a Taiwan-based group to retain Washington consultants to assure a fair hearing for Taiwan’s interests. After all, he says, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office operates here as Taiwan’s “unofficial embassy.” So it does. He does not mention that, according to the Justice Department, 153 countries retain consultants in the U.S. Most of these nations have official embassies, rather than unofficial ones. In short, it is a common practice except that, in our case, the client isn’t a government.

TSI is an offshoot of the Makoto Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank. It began in 1995 and has sponsored many conferences, academic studies and other activities focusing on economic, cultural and historic subjects. In expanding activities to the U.S., it adopted the name Taiwan Studies Institute for its new program as more appropriate for an American audience.

GERALD S.J. CASSIDY

Washington