Report calls for US action over China’s push to shut Taiwan out of international organizations

A report from the German Marshall Fund, a group aimed at promoting democracy, called for the U.S. to take action over China’s moves to isolate Taiwan from international groups on Thursday.

The report details actions China has taken in recent years to claim Taiwan as its own in the eyes of international organizations and groups such as the United Nations. 

It is focused on China’s interpretation of UN Resolution 2758, which was signed in 1971 and says the People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate representative of China at the U.N.

“There is a campaign underway by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to reinterpret UN Resolution 2758 as based on its ‘One China’ Principle and spread the fallacy that, through the resolution, UN member states came to a determination that Taiwan is a part of the PRC,” the report states.

China has worked to pressure the U.N. and other organizations to adopt language that recognizes Taiwan as part of China, with some U.N. documents altered to say “Taiwan, Province of China.”

The pro-democracy group is calling on the U.S. to combat these diplomatic advances by creating a coalition of countries to counter China’s attempts to change the meaning of resolution 2758, and write a letter to the U.N. secretary general detailing their concerns around China’s actions.

They also want the U.S. to pressure other organizations to stop using the phrase “Taiwan, province of China.”

“The United States should publicly emphasize the differences between its ‘One China’ policy and Beijing’s ‘One China’ Principle” and lobby against Chinese officials in high positions in the U.N, according to the group. 

Taiwan is one of the most contentious issues between the U.S. and China as China claims the democratically run island as its own territory.

The U.S. takes a position of “strategic ambiguity” in the dispute, neither recognizing Taiwan as its own country nor that it belongs to China. 

China has repeatedly flown jets near Taiwanese air space over the past year in what has been seen as provocative moves meant to intimidate the island. 

It has also refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, amid concerns that Moscow’s war on its neighbor may embolden Beijing to take similar action toward Taiwan.