Bob Dole

choi

Isaac Arnsdorf, Dole Lobbied Trump's Team on Taiwan for Months; Private briefings, convention delegation, tougher platform language all preceded protocol-breaking phone call. Politico, Dec 6, 2016.
http://www.politico.com/story/20 ... trump-taiwan-232266

Note:
(a) The nytimes.com, two hours later at 4 pm, published a report online today (in print tomorrow) saying Bob Dole is the man.
(b) "Dole's work is part of Taiwan's decades-long investment in grooming conservatives to bolster its US relations at China's expense, dispatching lobbyists to ply Capitol Hill, feting congressional staff with trips to Taipei, throwing parties at a vast DC estate, and funneling money to China hawks at right-leaning think tanks."

ply (vt):
"2 :  to keep furnishing or supplying something to <plied us with liquor>
3 * * *
b :  to go or travel regularly over, on, or through <jets plying the skies>"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ply
(c) "Earlier this year, Dole set up a meeting between Taiwan's representative to the US, Stanley Kao 高碩泰 [appointed by Tsai Ing-wen and assumed office on June 5, 2016], and Alabama Sen Jeff Sessions, a key Trump adviser and later his choice for attorney general. He also convened a meeting between Taiwanese diplomats and the Trump transition team. The disclosure didn't specify exactly when the meetings occurred.  The filing also reveals Dole's hand in making the Republican platform the most pro-Taiwan it has ever been."
(d) "Dole's role in the phone call was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. * * * Not all Taiwan's lobbyists were in on the plan, a person familiar with the matter told POLITICO. It even left out Taiwan’s pseudo-embassy, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, whose officials found out about it from media reports.  'This is sudden news for us as well,' said Thalia Lin 林 俶如, executive officer of TECRO's press division. 'The whole office has no idea what’s going on.' "

Thalia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalia
(Greek mythological figures, all female)
(e) " 'The US emissary from Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party, Michael Fonte, said he only had a few hours' heads-up.  'Honestly I have not had any marching orders what to do pro or con,' Fonte told POLITICO. 'Nobody in Taipei has said, you've got to do XYZ.' "

楊遠薰, 彭光理與台灣的半生緣 ─ Michael Fonte 的故事. Taiwanese American Historical Society, Apr 30, 2016.
http://www.tahistory.org/%E5%BD% ... 8%96%B0-04-30-3016/
(i) 阿凸仔 (akin to 大鼻子 in Mandarin, where 凸 means a nose standing out (not "big").  
(ii) "被分發到苗栗的苑裡與竹南工作。"

苗栗縣
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/苗栗縣
(section 5 行政區劃: 竹南鎮 [so named because this township is just south of 新竹市], 苑裡鎮)
(iii) "彭明敏教授 * * * 原是台大政治系系主任， 1964年因與學生共同發表《台灣自救宣言》而被捕，判刑八年，後來改為監禁在家。1970年一月，身為獨臂人的他竟得以擺脫嚴密的監控，逃離台灣，飛抵瑞典，堪稱傳奇。稍後，他在美國密西根州立大學從事研究工作。"

彭明敏
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/彭明敏
("大學時就讀東京帝國大學政治科 * * * 1944年，日本政府取消原本文科大學生的緩徵令，彭明敏本人也在徵召的名單之中；彭明敏由於不願意為日本人服役，於是前往長崎投靠長兄；而在前往長崎的途中，他所搭乘的船隻受到美軍轟炸，他因而失去左臂（后来终生装上义臂）" )

Chiang  Kai-shek thought CIA smuggled Peng out.
(iv) You may stop reading this report here.

(f) "A new think tank opened two months ago [at DC], the first dedicated solely to Taiwan, known as the Global Taiwan Institute 全球台灣研究中心/院/所 [no official Chinese name; hence various Chinese translations]. The organization is privately funded and not affiliated with the Taiwanese government, according to its director, Russell Hsiao 蕭良其. Its advisory board includes prominent researchers such as Gordon Chang, William Stanton 司徒文 [AIT director, 2009-2012] and John Tkacik, who have all supported Trump’s phone call."
(g) "Taiwan was once considered one of Washington’s most fearsome lobbies * * * That stature diminished when President Jimmy Carter normalized relations with China in 1979, initiating the new US posture toward the Chinese-Taiwanese dispute that Trump has now scrambled."

scramble (vt): "make (something) jumbled or muddled <maybe the alcohol has scrambled his brains>"
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/scramble