The US Department of State has picked veteran diplomat Mark Lambert as its top China policy official, five sources familiar with the matter said, bringing in new leadership for a part of the department that has faced staffing problems and criticism over its handling of China-focused initiatives.
Lambert is likely to be named deputy assistant secretary for China and Taiwan, the sources said, filling the post left in June by Rick Waters.
Waters had also served as the head of the Office of China Coordination — informally known as “China House” — a unit the department created late last year to meld China policies across regions and issues. Whether Lambert would assume the China House coordinator title is still being discussed, the sources said.
Lambert’s appointment is unlikely to change the tone of Washington’s China policy, which US President Joe Biden’s administration says is one of “intense competition,” while trying to increase engagement with Beijing to stabilize ties, but Lambert, a well-regarded diplomat with experience in East Asia, is certain to influence China House, which has been criticized for adding layers of bureaucracy to an already complex decisionmaking process.
It was unclear when the state department would formally announce the appointment.
“We have no personnel announcements to make at this time, but the Office of China Coordination remains an integral piece of the US government’s efforts to responsibly manage our competition with the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and advance our vision for an open, inclusive international system,” a state department spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to a request for comment.
The state department pushed back on criticism about China House, saying it was one if its highest-functioning teams.
“It has improved coordination and facilitated senior leaders’ diplomacy and policymaking, with results including enabling the Department’s response to the PRC surveillance balloon and rapid briefing of allies and partners around the world to expose the PRC’s global program,” a state department official said.
The US and China are at odds over issues from Taiwan to trade, fentanyl and human rights, but Washington has sought to keep communication channels open ahead of a possible meeting later this year between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
An Asia expert who did two stints at the US embassy in Beijing, Lambert most recently served as a deputy assistant secretary focused on Japanese, Korean and Mongolian affairs, and on relations with Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
In the new role, he would continue to report to US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink.
Reuters reported in May that the state department delayed sensitive actions toward China to try to limit damage to bilateral relations after an alleged Chinese spy balloon crossed US airspace in February.
Senior officials have acknowledged morale and staffing problems at China House, but denied they were linked to how the state department carries out China policy.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
RSS