Taiwan’s top diplomat in the United States says China’s communist government is stepping up its global campaign to pressure countries not to recognize the legitimacy of the island democracy and to block it from participating in the United Nations and other key international organizations.
Ambassador Alexander Tah-ray Yui, Taiwan’s official representative in Washington, said in an exclusive, wide-ranging interview that his government wants to spotlight China’s campaign against Taipei before the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly next week in New York.
The Taiwan envoy told The Washington Times that a core tactic of Beijing’s campaign has been Chinese officials’ calculated mischaracterization of U.N. General Assembly Resolution 2758. He said Beijing wrongly claims the 1971 resolution, which first recognized communist China’s U.N. member status, somehow precludes Taiwan from participating in the world body, even though the United Nations recognized Taipei before 1971.
What’s worse, said Mr. Yui, is that “the People’s Republic of China has been using Resolution 2758 as a legal international document that states that Taiwan belongs to the PRC, that … they own Taiwan, and that therefore they have the right to … reunify Taiwan into their realms, even if it means by military means.”
Although it may sound legalistic, he said, the dispute has had severe real-world consequences for Taiwan’s place in the world.
“That’s why it’s so important to debunk 2758 because, in that resolution, which is a short paragraph, it doesn’t mention Taiwan at all,” the ambassador said. “Their claim is bogus. This is a vague resolution, and their claim that it is a legal international document that proves that Taiwan is theirs is also fake because [the resolution] doesn’t mention Taiwan at all.
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“It doesn’t mention whether other countries can interact with Taiwan,” he said. “It doesn’t mention whether Taiwan can or cannot participate in the United Nations or other international organizations. We have all the right to be incorporated into the United Nations. We are a sovereign, independent nation.”
Mr. Yui, a career diplomat posted to the European Union before coming to Washington in December, discussed the rising tensions with Beijing in a wide-ranging discussion with The Washington Times’ “Threat Status Influencers” video series. The video interview was released on Thursday and can be found on the newspaper’s website.
Regional analysts say China had some success in peeling off Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, often with promises of development aid. Most recently, the Pacific island nation of Nauru said in January that it was switching diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China. The move reduced the number of Taiwan’s formal diplomatic allies to 12 worldwide.
Beijing’s campaign to undermine Taiwan on the international stage has largely been overshadowed by the more direct threat of Chinese military action.
Chinese military threats
Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned since 2019 that Beijing reserved the right to use force to dissolve Taiwan’s democracy and absorb it under Communist Party rule. Chinese military drills around the island in recent years, coupled with Beijing’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, have amplified concerns about the prospect of an invasion.
Taiwan has long been a key partner of the United States. It is a thriving democracy in the Indo-Pacific and a technological powerhouse, particularly in the realm of advanced microchips. Several of the most iconic and influential American brands — including Apple, Intel, Microsoft and Lockheed Martin — are deeply invested in or heavily reliant on the island’s chips sector.
Breaking with diplomatic tradition, President Biden has said openly that U.S. forces would respond in the event of a Chinese military invasion of Taiwan. The Financial Times recently reported that the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team 6, the clandestine unit that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, has been training for missions to help Taiwan if it is invaded.
Mr. Yui said, “The prospect of military aggression against Taiwan from the PLA is real.” China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is certainly preparing for it,” he said, noting that “last week, they conducted landing exercises … across from Taiwan.”
The ambassador described the current moment as one of “constant aggression from the PRC,” with Chinese fighter jets and warships regularly circling Taiwan. Beijing also engages in “economic coercion” tactics and cyberattacks against Taipei.
“We welcome any gestures and concrete actions from friends — the United States and other countries — in helping Taiwan defend itself better,” he said, adding that “we are determined to defend our own homeland.”
“We’ve increased, considerably, our defense budget. We’ve purchased big amounts … of military hardware and equipment. We’re also training our military personnel better and … putting more effort into our whole-society resiliency for our civil defense, preparing our civilians to face situations where they may be under attack.”
He said Taipei is also increasing energy and food security, embracing a “holistic approach to prepare ourselves for this possible aggression from mainland China.”
China’s pressure campaign intensified even as the Taiwanese envoy was speaking. This week, Beijing announced sanctions on nine American companies over what it said were illegal weapons and military parts sales to Taiwan. On Wednesday, Beijing said it was removing tariff exemptions for nearly three dozen fruit, vegetable and other agricultural exports to the mainland, citing what it said were “provocative measures” by the independence-leaning government in Taipei.
U.S. congressional supporters of Taiwan from both parties have pressed the Biden administration to do more to bolster Taiwan’s defenses if only to push through delays in delivering some $19 billion worth of promised U.S. weapons to the Taiwanese military. Some argue that Mr. Biden has missed critical opportunities to include Taiwan’s forces in joint military exercises with the U.S. and its allies. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week became one of the highest-ranking American officials, past or present, to endorse full U.S. recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign, independent state.
Robert O’Brien, who served as national security adviser under President Trump, has suggested that the current administration has erred by not inviting Taiwan to participate in the world’s largest international maritime drills: the annual Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises.
“Congress indicated in 2022 that the United States should invite Taiwan to join the exercises. But Biden has refused to do so — a mistake that must be remedied,” Mr. O’Brien wrote recently in Foreign Affairs.
When asked how Taiwan would respond to such an invitation, Mr. Yui said that “any gesture, any action that would help Taiwan better defend itself is welcomed.”
“We are facing a very large opponent, so how to face that using asymmetric warfare tactics, how to counter the possibility of an invasion force, a landing force onto Taiwan’s shores by way of technology, by way of better preparedness … any actions that are conducive to that, we welcome it,” the ambassador said.
‘It doesn’t make sense’
Mr. Yui said it is vital to make sure “the other side knows that if it wants to attack Taiwan militarily, they will not get away with it, or they cannot win by trying to attack Taiwan.”
He emphasized the importance of Taiwan’s democratic partners, including the U.S. and European nations, speaking out to support the island in the face of China’s mounting pressure campaign.
“It lets the other side know that Taiwan is not alone,” said the ambassador, who stressed that his country of roughly 23.5 million people would bring a lot to the U.N. system if allowed.
“Imagine [that] we lead in technology, in telecommunications, yet we’re not members of the ITU International Telecommunications Union. It doesn’t make sense.”
“Over half of the world’s trade goes through the Taiwan Strait, yet we cannot be in international bodies that regulate that. Over a million planes fly over Taiwan or the Taiwan Strait every year, yet we’re not members of ICAO, the International Civil Aviation Organization.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” he said again. “Because of the PRC’s encroachment and the PRC’s pressure, we have not yet been able to participate in these organizations.”
He said Taiwan is earning new support despite daily pressure from Beijing.
“The support that we’re getting from … other countries is growing,” Mr. Yui said, “because it is not right and it is not correct for us to be continually impeded from participating.”
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.
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