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Chinese and US national flags fly in Washington in 2011. Photo: AFP

US tasks State Department official Mark Lambert to counter China’s ‘malign influence’ at UN

  • Lambert was previously US special envoy for North Korea
  • He will focus on ‘integrity of multilateral institutions’, US State Department confirms

A top US State Department official has been tasked with countering “malign influences” of China and others at the United Nations, the agency confirmed on Thursday.

“Mr [Mark] Lambert, a career Foreign Service officer, has been assigned to the Bureau of International Organisation Affairs as a member of a diverse team of diplomatic professionals working to ensure the integrity of multilateral institutions,” a State Department spokeswoman said.

“This includes countering the malign influences of the PRC and others in the UN system,” the spokeswoman said, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.

Foreign Policy magazine reported on Wednesday that Lambert, most recently the US special envoy for North Korea, would be moving into this role.

China’s secrecy on nuclear arms a ‘threat to stability’, US says

The post appears amid scepticism about multilateral institutions within US President Donald Trump’s administration.

Trump has repeatedly publicly criticised institutions such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

On Wednesday, a senior State Department official told reporters that China had not repatriated North Korean workers by a December 22 deadline, in violation of United Nations sanctions.

The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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