State Department China Coordinator and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Mark Lambert delivered a policy statement to a German Marshall Fund event on April 29, which comes ever closer to demanding international recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign entity.
Lambert charged that China “mischaracterizes and misuses” the 1971 UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 which recognized the P.R.C. as the only legitimate representative of China, “by falsely conflating it with China’s one-China principle, and wrongly asserts that it reflects an international consensus for its one-China principle.” All Resolution 2758 did, he asserted, was change who occupied the China seat at the UN; it “did not constitute a UN institutional position on the political status of Taiwan,” nor did it “preclude Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN system and other multilateral fora.” The U.S. “encourages” UN member states, civil society and individuals to join the U.S. in pushing for Taiwan to be granted status throughout the multinational institutions, he specified.
Lambert’s arrogant line of reasoning is no different from the State Department’s dictate that UN Security Council Resolution 2728 mandating a ceasefire in Gaza is “non-binding,” simply “because we say so.”
“It is shocking and outrageous that a U.S. State Department official overseeing China-U.S. relations would speak so irresponsibly and brazenly tell and spread lies,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Press Spokesman Lin Jian replied on May 6, responding to a question about Lambert’s statement. China has “strongly protested” his remarks to the U.S., he said. Lin set the record straight:
