Last year, China just paid 3.2 billion yuan to the United Nations, so why is the United Nations crying poverty again this year?
As an international organization that occupies an important position in the world, the image of the United Nations is extremely high in the hearts of the people, but the remarks of the director of the United Nations Information Service in March this year exposed the true face of poverty of the United Nations, which has once again fallen into a financial crisis and has even closed down some departments in order to maintain normal operations.
This fact surprises everyone, after all, China just paid 3.2 billion yuan in membership dues last year, and the United Nations has 193 participating countries. And this year, the United Nations has directly stated that it has no money, but China, the United States and Russia have not paid their dues, why is this?
1. The United Nations "Contributions" Encyclopedia
The United Nations was born in 1945 to promote international peace, security and cooperation.
In the early stages of its development, the United Nations focused mainly on "self-building", and it was not until its institutions and systems were continuously improved that it began to play an effective role in the international arena.
The United Nations is both above and under the supervision of all countries, and its relationship with participating countries is complementary and mutually restrictive. After years of development, the United Nations has a strong international influence and can effectively resolve most international disputes.
In the hearts of people of all countries, the United Nations is a very mysterious and powerful existence, but it is really surprising and incomprehensible that such a powerful United Nations runs out of money from time to time.
No matter how brilliant the aura is to the United Nations, we cannot abandon the fact that it is an international organization, and the larger the organization, the more it needs the support of economic strength.
There are more than 57,000 employees in the United Nations, and the annual salary, welfare and security are a large amount of expenditure, and special maintenance of the United Nations building complex, water and electricity management and other projects need financial support.
In the various offices and conference halls inside the building, desks, chairs, translators, air conditioners and other equipment are necessities, and in order to ensure the security of personnel and information, it also needs to be equipped with security personnel and a dedicated line network, and these costs cannot be omitted at all.
In addition to maintaining its own normal operation, the United Nations also needs to pay huge expenses for maintaining world peace and providing guarantees for personnel who carry out peacekeeping work in turbulent areas.
Today, the number of member states of the United Nations has reached 193, and in order to maintain the normal functioning of the United Nations, member states need to pay their contributions, which are determined according to the economic strength of each country, and the more developed the economy, the more fees need to be paid.
The assessment ratio changes every three years, and the current standard used is determined in 2022, according to the current standard, the United States is strong and ranks first, with the highest assessment ratio of 22%, and the contribution to be paid in 2023 is as high as 690 million US dollars, followed by China, with 15.25% of the total, and 490 million US dollars in contributions to the United Nations last year.
As can be seen from the table, the six countries of the United States, China, Japan, Germany, Britain and France have already paid 60%, which means that the remaining 187 countries only need to bear 40% of the cost, and the pressure is greatly reduced.
But in reality, in 2023, only 142 countries have paid their contributions in full, and 51 countries have chosen to be cheeky and ignore their obligations. And this year's situation is obviously even worse, China, the United States and Russia, which have the important right to speak, have not paid the money, what is hidden behind it?
2. The real reasons for the non-payment of membership dues by the three countries
After all, since 1980, the United States has often defaulted on its membership dues, and even if the United Nations even shut down the elevators in order to cut expenditures, and a group of staff members climbed the stairs in suits, the United States did not feel distressed at all.
Could it be that the United States is really in economic difficulties and cannot afford to pay it? As mentioned above, the United Nations contribution system is based on the economic strength of different countries, and the United States has a strong economy, so it accounts for a high proportion.
Just like a kind of chaos in society now, it is the boss who owes money. The normal operation of the United Nations requires strong financial support, and membership dues are the top priority, and the United States accounts for the highest proportion and needs to pay the highest amount, so the United Nations naturally hopes that the other side can pay the money on time and in accordance with the amount to maintain the normal work of such a large international organization.
It is by this that the United States uses this to constrain the United Nations and make decisions that are more in line with its own needs, and that the United States has refused to pay fees because it wants to return to UNESCO and prevent Palestine from joining the United Nations.
And why did Russia, which has paid its dues on time in previous years, choose not to pay its dues this year? The reasons behind this are more complicated, from an objective point of view, Russia has been affected by the war, and its domestic financial situation is not optimistic, and if it pays a huge amount of membership dues, it will inevitably have a negative impact on the current war and the country's finances.
From a subjective point of view, Russia is using this to express its dissatisfaction with the United Nations. At the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United Nations announced that it would provide assistance to Ukraine, although its action allowed many Ukrainian people to survive the war, but for Russia, which also suffered losses but did not receive assistance, this behavior is unfair.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in February 2023 that Russia is ready to reconsider its relationship with the United Nations, which has violated its obligations, and that Russia is ready to consider suspending its contributions to the United Nations as a way to protect Russia's own interests.
After talking about the United States and Russia, let's talk about why China does not pay its dues, which can be summed up in one sentence: No, the time has not come.
In recent years, the overall spending of the United Nations has skyrocketed, and in 2024 China will need to bear as much as $528 million, compared with $490 million in November last year.
This year, the deadline for payment announced by the United Nations is February 28, and if China chooses to pay on time and make two such huge expenses in a short period of time, even China, which is far ahead in terms of strength development, will feel a lot of pressure.
However, China does not choose to delay its debts, just like the United States, but China's fiscal allocation time is usually concentrated in the second half of the year, so the mainland's time to deal with this matter is also concentrated in the second half of the year.
At all times, China has always demonstrated the demeanor of a great power, fulfilled its obligations as a major country on time, and demonstrated extraordinary responsibility and responsibility on the international stage, which is in stark contrast to the actions of the United States.
The author thinks
In the era of globalization, all countries need to work together to promote international cooperation and development and maintain world peace and stability.
Resources
Beijing News: On December 25, 2023, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2024 UN regular budget, about US$3.59 billion
CCTV News Client: November 5, 2019 "The United Nations Suffers the Worst Funding Crisis in a Decade, and the United States Is Still a "Big Debtor"
Beijing News: June 12, 2023 "The United States intends to return to UNESCO, more than 600 million US dollars in arrears to be paid"
Observer.com: May 7, 2024, "Israel threats: Once passed, the U.S. will stop funding the United Nations"
Xinhuanet: February 27, 2022 "The United Nations will provide more humanitarian aid to Ukraine"