US official says Beijing’s block of Taiwan from United Nations harms international community

Name: US ambassador to China nominee takes tough line toward Beijing at hearing
Uploaded: 2021-10-21T18:53:55.000Z
Duration: 2 min 10 s
Description: US ambassador to China nominee takes tough line toward Beijing at hearing

‘Taiwan being blocked for participation in nearly all of the UN activities creates an immense cost,’ says a US State Department deputy assistant secretary

Supporters have long argued the benefits of a bigger global voice for the island of 23.5 million people

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International flags outside the United Nations headquarters in New York on September 20. Photo: Bloomberg

Mark Magnierin New York

Published: 2:53am, 22 Oct 2021Updated: 10:19pm, 22 Oct 2021

A senior US official pushed back on Thursday over China’s growing clout in the United Nations, arguing that Beijing is crowding out Taiwan to the detriment of the international community.

Monday is the 50th anniversary of UN resolution 2758, which states that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is the sole holder of credentials and the “only legitimate” representative of China in the global body.

But Rick Waters, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for China, Taiwan and Mongolia, said China has overstepped the UN provision.

“The People’s Republic of China has misused resolution 2758,” said Waters, a former political counsellor in the US embassy in Beijing, at a German Marshall Fund event. “Taiwan being blocked for participation in nearly all of the UN activities creates an immense cost, not just for Taiwan, but I think to UN members as well.”

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US ambassador to China nominee takes tough line toward Beijing at hearing

As examples of this cost, Waters cited Taiwan being blocked from the World Health Organization (WHO) despite a strong record fighting the Covid-19 pandemic; from the International Civil Aviation Organization triennial assembly despite having 50 million passengers through its airports annually; and from the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), denying it two-way data on criminal activity.