US wants curbs on China as a condition for paying UN dues, report says
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The conditions set by the US include blocking China from channeling funds to the office of the UN secretary-general.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON - The United States has set specific conditions for the release of billions of dollars it owes to the United Nations, such as more cost-cutting and moves to counter China’s influence at the world body, a development news wire reported on April 28.
The United States circulated two diplomatic notes calling for nine “quick-hit” reforms in order to release more funds, independent agency Devex, which covers global development, said in the report.
It said these included:
Overhauling the UN pension system
Ending long-distance business-class travel for some senior and all mid-level professionals
Further cuts in the UN’s senior ranks
A “10 per cent reduction in long-standing, ineffective peacekeeping missions.”
Blocking China from channelling tens of millions of dollars each year to a discretionary fund housed in the office of the UN secretary-general, a move aimed countering Chinese influence at the UN.
“These reforms will be an indication that the UN is serious about reform,” Devex quoted one of the documents saying.
The US mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The US has said repeatedly that it will keep pressuring the United Nations to reform after announcing its withdrawals from dozens of UN bodies in 2026 and having cut millions of dollars in funding in 2025.
China’s UN mission said it had “taken note” of the Devex report, adding, “The root cause of the financial difficulties the United Nations is facing in recent years is the substantial arrears in assessed contributions by its largest contributor” – a reference to the United States.
“We call on the member state concerned to earnestly fulfill its financial obligations to the United Nations and demonstrate its support for the organization through concrete actions,” it said in response to a Reuters request for comment.
China had “consistently and faithfully fulfilled its financial obligations, and has engaged in constructive cooperation with the United Nations”, it said.
“Attempts to block such cooperation not only do not hold any ground, but are also doomed to fail.”
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said assessed contributions by the United States and every other UN member state were “a treaty obligation” and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was already "leading a pretty heavy reform" of the organisation.
“It involves decisions that member states must take if we want to have a UN that is more effective, that uses its resources in the best way possible,” Mr Dujarric told a news briefing.
“The secretary-general is doing everything he can in that direction.”
Mr Guterres warned in January that the UN faced “imminent financial collapse” due to unpaid fees, most of which are owed by the United States.
The UN said in February the United States had paid about US$160 million (S$204 million) of the more than US$4 billion it owes.
The US owed US$2.19 billion to the regular UN budget as of the start of February, more than 95 per cent of the total then owed by countries globally.
It owed another US$2.4 billion for current and past peacekeeping missions and US$43.6 million for UN tribunals. REUTERS
