Whatever funds China is contributing to the United Nations – which are dwarfed by the United States – China is getting much more in return than it deserves
China’s Hollow Complaints About Late U.S. Payments to the UN
By Joseph A. Klein, CFP United Nations Columnist ——Bio and Archives--May 19, 2020
China has criticized the United States for being behind in paying its assessments for the United Nations’ regular and peacekeeping budgets. China claimed that the U.S. owed about $1.16 billion to the UN’s regular budget and $1.3 billion to the UN’s peacekeeping budget. Upset at the suggestion by the U.S. Mission to the United Nations that Taiwan be allowed to play a greater role in UN specialized agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Chinese UN Mission decided to engage in cheap political games. It complained about the long-standing schedule that the United States has worked out with the UN to pay its assessments to the United Nations, which in any event dwarf China’s payments.
The United States funds more than twice as much of the regular UN budget (25%), as China does (12%). China paid its $336.78 million assessment for the regular 2020 budget three months late. The United States has customarily paid its UN dues late, primarily due to differences in timing of the United States and United Nations fiscal years. The U.S. also is unwilling to pay more than 25 percent of the UN’s peacekeeping budget, also making the U.S. the number one contributor, rather than the 28 percent unreasonably demanded by other member states. China’s efforts to paint itself as making great sacrifices to pay all its assessed contributions in contrast to the United States is nothing more than pathetic propaganda.
China still laughably refers to itself as a “developing” country and is treated as such by UN agencies
The UN assessments are calculated beginning with each member state’s share of the global economy, using Gross National Income (GNI) as the comparative measurement. Based on the latest data available for 2018, the Gross National Income for the United States was approximately $20.837 trillion. The Gross National Income for China for 2018 was approximately $13.556 trillion. On that basis alone, the U.S. is paying too much in UN regular budget assessments relative to China. When the economies are compared in terms of purchasing power parity, the U.S. is second to China. In 2019, the U.S. economy as measured by purchasing power parity was $21.44 trillion, but the Chinese economy was measured at $27.31 trillion. While the International Monetary Fund (IMF) uses PPP-based GDP to determine the quota subscriptions of member countries, the UN’s budget assessments do not. That’s lucky for China. Based on the PPP economic measure, China would be paying more than the United States. China should stop complaining.
China still laughably refers to itself as a “developing” country and is treated as such by UN agencies. Its $40 million contribution to the World Health Organization is a tenth of what the United States has been contributing to WHO. President Trump’s decision to donate the exact same amount as China does is more than generous, considering WHO’s complicity with the Chinese government in spreading misinformation denying the human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus when it could have been stopped. President Trump has reportedly written a letter stating that “China owes a massive debt to the entire world, and it can start with paying its fair share to the WHO. If China increases its funding to the WHO we will consider matching those increases.”
China’s footprint is growing within the United Nations
This move towards greater parity between the United States and China in contributions to WHO should be extended to the United Nations as a whole. As noted by an article appearing on Observer Research Foundation’s website entitled China’s footprint is growing within the United Nations, “China heads four of the UN’s 15 specialised agencies -- the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). By comparison, France, the US and the UK lead one specialized agency each even when they contribute three times the amount of money into the UN budget.” This is in addition to China’s hand-picked Director-General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia.
A giant Chinese tech company almost landed a lucrative contract with the United Nations to provide video conferencing and digital dialogue tools for the UN’s 75th anniversary. The company is Tencent, which works hand in hand with China’s government to facilitate its censorship and surveillance. Fortunately, the UN has reportedly backed down after receiving complaints from Western governments and human rights advocates. However, that represents one small defeat for China in its long campaign to use its increasing leverage at the UN to advance its technological agenda and help its domestic companies.
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Tencent, which works hand in hand with China’s government to facilitate its censorship and surveillance
For example, China’s Houlin Zhao is the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union. The Financial Times has reported that Chinese tech companies “such as ZTE, Dahua and China Telecom are among those proposing new international standards — specifications aimed at creating universally consistent technology — in the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for facial recognition, video monitoring, city and vehicle surveillance. Standards ratified in the ITU, which comprises nearly 200 member states, are commonly adopted as policy by developing nations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, where the Chinese government has agreed to supply infrastructure and surveillance tech under its ‘Belt and Road Initiative,’ according to experts.”
Dahua and ZTE are among the Chinese companies whose telecommunications equipment and video surveillance products have been banned for purchase by U.S. government agencies because of security concerns. China is using its leverage at the ITU to manipulate new international standards to the advantage of these Chinese companies and others. Whatever funds China is contributing to the United Nations – which are dwarfed by the United States – China is getting much more in return than it deserves.
China has criticized the United States for being behind in paying its assessments for the United Nations’ regular and peacekeeping budgets. China claimed that the U.S. owed about $1.16 billion to the UN’s regular budget and $1.3 billion to the UN’s peacekeeping budget. Upset at the suggestion by the U.S. Mission to the United Nations that Taiwan be allowed to play a greater role in UN specialized agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Chinese UN Mission decided to engage in cheap political games. It complained about the long-standing schedule that the United States has worked out with the UN to pay its assessments to the United Nations, which in any event dwarf China’s payments.
The United States funds more than twice as much of the regular UN budget (25%), as China does (12%). China paid its $336.78 million assessment for the regular 2020 budget three months late. The United States has customarily paid its UN dues late, primarily due to differences in timing of the United States and United Nations fiscal years. The U.S. also is unwilling to pay more than 25 percent of the UN’s peacekeeping budget, also making the U.S. the number one contributor, rather than the 28 percent unreasonably demanded by other member states. China’s efforts to paint itself as making great sacrifices to pay all its assessed contributions in contrast to the United States is nothing more than pathetic propaganda.
