China’s Push to Isolate Taiwan Demands U.S. Action, Report Says

The report from the German Marshall Fund, a research group that promotes democracy, laid out similar examples of coercive diplomacy by China in the constellation of United Nations agencies and associated groups. (The authors, Jessica Drun and Bonnie Glaser, both Taiwan experts, said they had received funding from the Taiwanese government for the research but that the views in the report were their own. Separately, Laura Rosenberger, senior director for China and Taiwan at the White House National Security Council, was a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund.)

In some cases, Chinese diplomats worked to ensure that Taiwan could not participate in the groups. In other cases, Chinese officials pushed U.N. personnel to ensure that Taiwan was labeled a “province of China” in documents. The U.S. has a policy of promoting Taiwan’s participation in international organizations and venues.

A United Nations spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment.

A State Department official said that U.S. officials consistently highlighted the value of Taiwan’s “meaningful participation” in U.N. activities and associated groups, especially ones related to public health and safety. In a statement, the official said “this is in the best interest of all U.N. member states, given the transnational nature of the challenges we face.” U.S. officials regularly have private conversations with U.N. leaders on the issue.

China’s efforts in the United Nations context are part of a campaign to shift the understanding of that body’s Resolution 2758, passed in 1971. The resolution says the People’s Republic of China would be the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations, meaning it would take the seat held by the government of Taiwan. The resolution does not say anything about the sovereign status of Taiwan, but China has been trying for years to change people’s understanding of the language so they think the text says Taiwan is part of China, Ms. Drun and Ms. Glaser wrote.

China has “used U.N. Resolution 2758 and bilateral normalization agreements with other member states to falsely claim that its ‘One China’ principle is a universally accepted norm,” they wrote, adding that China gets support for its views partly “through economic pressure on governments.”

Those efforts allow China to more easily argue that Taiwan should be shut out of international organizations.

“They have lots of reasons to solidify the ‘One China’ principle, as they put it, in the minds of the leadership of the United Nations,” said Thomas Christensen, the interim dean at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a former State Department official.

NYT

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