TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A petition created Tuesday calls on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to rescind the appointment of a controversial conservative journalist for a key position in the State Department due to his controversial comments on Taiwan and Uyghurs.
The conservative website Revolver reported Monday that its founder, Darren Beattie, had been appointed Acting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Beattie gained notoriety for being terminated in 2018 from his position as Trump's speechwriter after it was revealed he spoke at a white nationalist rally in 2016, per The Independent.
On Tuesday, a petition directed at Rubio was posted on Change.org opposing Beattie's appointment. The petition's authors said that Beattie's public remarks have “demonstrated a pattern of underestimating and misinterpreting the complexities of the PRC.”
The petition points out that Beattie had made “disparaging remarks about Taiwan and the Uyghur community,” demonstrating a poor understanding of Asian politics. The authors argued that Beattie's political stances “not only jeopardize the effective execution of the administration's strategy toward the PRC but also risk alienating Taiwan, one of our most significant allies in the region.”
The top image in the petition is a screen capture of a post uploaded by Beattie to X on May 25, 2024, where he claimed, “Taiwan will inevitably belong to China, it's only a matter of time" and that it is “not worth expending any capital to prevent.” Beattie purported that a “visionary statesman” would see that a deal could be made over Taiwan in exchange for concessions on Africa and Antarctica.
The authors noted that Rubio has recently expressed concern about China's coercive actions toward Taiwan and opposed the deportation of 48 Uyghurs from Thailand. Given Rubio's publicly stated concerns over China's use of diplomatic and economic leverage on developing countries, the petition urged him to reconsider Beattie's appointment.
Beattie has also been known to make racist remarks, such as a tweet on Oct. 5 claiming, “Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.” He alleged that America's national ideology is based on “coddling the feelings of women and minorities, and demoralizing competent white men.”