A Taiwanese diplomat tells NR about his country’s efforts to reverse its exclusion from the U.N. and warn the world about China.
A Taiwanese diplomat tells NR about his country’s efforts to reverse its exclusion from the U.N. and warn the world about China.
T aiwan is on a mission to reverse its exclusion at the United Nations and make clear to the world that the Chinese Communist Party’s bullying campaign can no longer be tolerated.
James Lee, director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York and Taiwan’s de facto U.N. ambassador, discussed these plans in an interview with National Review ahead of next week’s U.N. General Assembly opening session. He explained that his country aims to “resolve the inappropriate exclusion of Taiwan’s 23 million people from the U.N. system,” by pressing for inclusion in U.N. meetings related to the organization’s Sustainable Development Goals and asking that Taiwanese nationals be allowed to enter U.N. premises. To date, China has apparently been successful in persuading the U.N. to bar anyone in possession of a Taiwanese passport from U.N. facilities.
The root of Taiwan’s decades-long exclusion from the U.N. is clear, Lee told National Review.
“China has been imposing its One China Principle throughout the international community, forcing governments, international organizations, academics, business, even NGOs or Hollywood throughout the world to assert its fictitious claim that Taiwan is part of PRC,” Lee explained, speaking from his office earlier this month. “However, the reality is, Taiwan is not, nor has it ever been, a part of PRC. So, only Taiwan’s democratically elected government can represent its 23 million people on the international stage, including the U.N. system.”
That “One China Principle” is wholly different from the One China Policy held by the U.S. and many of its allies. The Chinese Communist Party–sanctioned principle holds that Taiwan is part of China, while the latter merely acknowledges that Beijing claims jurisdiction over Taiwan. Chinese officials and propagandists routinely claim that the U.S. and others violate the One China Principle. But the party makes its claims stick, a wildly successful disinformation campaign and a bullying tactic, all in one.
China bulldozes over any potential suggestion that Taiwan is not a province of the Chinese Communist Party–ruled government. Chinese officials have successfully pressured American companies, including airlines, to remove mentions of “Taiwan” from their websites. In 2018, the White House aptly called this “Orwellian nonsense.” At the U.N., this policy reaches absurd heights. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that China pressured non-governmental organizations seeking U.N. meeting credentials — including a group of Colorado high-school students — to change their websites to reflect the CCP’s preferred terminology.
At the U.N., China has sidelined Taiwan with these talking points. But its pressure campaign has failed elsewhere, such as Lithuania. The tiny Baltic country provoked Beijing’s fury in July, when a plan to exchange unofficial diplomatic outposts with Taiwan became public. The Chinese responded with characteristic histrionics — and, more ominously, economic punishment, including bans on Lithuanian imports. In the face of that pressure, Vilnius and Taipei doubled down on their plans.
In all of this, Beijing’s goal was obvious, according to Lee: “China tried to dissuade Lithuania from aligning itself more closely to Taiwan.” And it presents a test to Western leaders: “The international pushback against Beijing’s bullying campaigns can be a bellwether for Western resolve to confront Beijing’s malign behavior.”
While it’s unclear whether China’s grip on the U.N. can be loosened, Taiwan’s latest push takes place in an international environment that is increasingly receptive to warnings about Chinese misconduct. I specifically asked Lee about Europe, because the European Parliament recently advanced a measure urging closer EU–Taiwan ties. “Taiwan and Europe, although thousands of miles apart, we do share common values and principles, such as human rights, democracy, freedom, peace, rule of law,” he said.
“I think there’s an awakening in Europe. A lot of countries, one by one, say, yes China has become more repressive at home and aggressive abroad,” Lee said. “And more and more countries, not just in our region, but beyond, have more concerns, and are worrying how the West, led by the United States, is going to respond to China’s challenge.”
That’s important in its own right, but it has broader implications for how international blocs approach the China question — and therefore, how Taiwan is discussed at the U.N. The Chinese aggression that Lee cites has dovetailed with Beijing’s adversarial pandemic-era politics to midwife significant policy shifts among Western democracies. Lee sees a new opening for Taiwan.
“Never before have we seen the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the peaceful resolutions of cross-strait disputes being highlighted at events such as the U.S.–Japan Summit, Quad Summit, U.S.–EU Summit, G-7, NATO Summit,” he said. “All of this making clear their common strategic purpose. And together we are stronger.”
With the U.N. General Assembly opening debate just around the corner, that proposition is about to be tested. In an episode reminiscent of the Lithuanian dispute, the Biden administration is reportedly considering whether to allow Taiwan to rename its de facto embassy in Washington, which is currently called the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office,” to the “Taiwan Representative Office.” The new Taiwanese office in Lithuania will also use the name of the country instead of the capital, which particularly piques the party. The name change should be uncontroversial, since it reflects reality, but Chinese Communist Party mouthpieces contend it’s an unacceptable provocation.
That news broke a week after my conversation with Lee, but as U.S. officials and allied countries steel themselves for Chinese retaliation that might follow, and as they consider their engagement at the U.N., they should consider what he told me: “We will make sure that China gets the message that there’s no way to change democracy, and we will be firm against autocracy.”