Ex-Foreign Minister Lee lifts curtain on Trump-Tsai call in new book

Taipei, June 26 (CNA) Former Foreign Minister David Lee (李大維) has shared a behind-the-scenes account of the historic 2016 phone call between then-President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and then-U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, in a new memoir published Thursday.

"The book is a recollection of my 40-plus-year career as a diplomat. I want to leave it as a record for future reference -- for historians and younger generations," Lee said during a book launch event for his memoir in Taipei.

In the book, Lee details the background of the Dec. 2, 2016 phone call, the first direct communication between a U.S. president or president-elect and a Taiwanese president since diplomatic ties were severed in 1979.

According to Lee, when Trump invited Tsai to visit Washington, D.C. during the 11-minute congratulatory call, Tsai retained her "usual calm composure" and did not give a direct response due to the sensitivity of such a trip.

The Presidential Office decided not to comment publicly until Trump himself revealed the call in a social media post on X, then known as Twitter, Lee said.

Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Randall Schriver, described in the book as a "long-time friend of Taiwan," played a "key role" in facilitating the call, Lee added.

Lee also recounts his historic meeting with then-U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton in May 2019, the first time the top national security officials from both sides met since the severing of formal ties in 1979.

According to Lee, such "U.S.-Taiwan special channel talks" had been held since March 11, 1996, beginning with a meeting between then-U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Sandy Berger of the Clinton administration and Taiwan's National Security Council (NSC) secretary- general at the time, Ting Mao-shih (丁懋時).

That inaugural meeting focused on the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, a series of missile tests conducted by the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the waters around Taiwan following then-President Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) visit to the U.S. and speech at his alma mater, Cornell University, Lee said.

However, the 2019 meeting with Bolton marked the first time both Taipei and Washington's top national security advisers participated directly in the dialogue, Lee added.

Although Lee served as foreign minister and later as secretary-general of the NSC, both political appointments, he said he still considered himself a "career diplomat" rather than a politician.

In a pre-recorded address played during Thursday's book launch, Tsai praised Lee as a model career diplomat "who transcends party lines" and serves as the "cornerstone of the country's long-term development."

Lee served as the government's top spokesman and deputy foreign minister during Lee Teng-hui's Kuomintang (KMT) administration.

He later held diplomatic postings to the European Union, the U.S., Canada, and Australia under ex-President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic Progressive Party and during the presidency of the KMT's Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

His final public service post before retirement was as chair of the Straits Exchange Foundation, a semi-official organization tasked by Taiwan's government with handling technical matters involving China, from January 2023 to May 2024.