Rep Bill Owens and Taiwan Lobbying Violations?

Ruh-roh (source):

Congressman Bill Owens says he will repay more than $20,000 dollars for a junket that he took last December to Taiwan. The trip was paid for by a university in Taiwan. And it was planned and organized by a New York lobbying firm, which is no longer allowed under House ethics rules.

As Brian Mann reports, Owens says his office never reported that the firm Park Strategies organized the trip because "there was no place on the form to disclose it."

Politico has a nifty piece on the mess with tons of information. Park is very close to the Ma Administration and lobbies for the Taiwan government in the US.

This kind of thing is actually kind of normal for Taiwan and happens periodically. Remember this Bush-era mess? And the now-legendary Lafayette mess. Wait a couple of years. There will be another one....
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Daily Links:

• Perry Link with an excellent piece in the Washington Post on the US gov't's outdated view of China. Don't miss it.
• Chinese blogger Han Han on how wonderful the Taiwanese are. Don't miss it.
• With the South China Sea standoff continuing, China has raised the stakes by suspending tourism to Philippines. China is also halting Philippines bananas in customs for longer inspections and starting an official media campaign domestically to shore up its claims at home. Right-winger Bill Gertz in the Washington Free Beacon criticizes the US position and says the US Navy has been ordered not to help Manila. How soon will China use such tactics against Taiwan? James Holmes in The Diplomat meanwhile argues that frank talk with China would work wonders.

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