United Nations – China press to United States for the more than 1 billion dollars that the Donald Trump government owes to United Nations as unpaid contributions to the agency’s operating budget and to an independent one to maintain peace operations.
The unusual report of defaults by the Chinese mission to the UN comes as Trump continues to accuse Beijing of not being transparent about the coronavirus when he reported the first cases in December and early January.
China “is eager to distract attention from its cover-up and mismanagement in the COVID-19 crisis and this is another example,” said a spokesman for the US mission.
In early April, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the agency was facing a serious liquidity crisis due to defaults on quotas from member states, which had been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
In a letter to the 193 member countries, Guterres noted that “unpredictable cash flows, exacerbated by the global crisis posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, seriously threaten” the UN’s ability to do its job. In addition, he announced the temporary hiring freeze and asked all nations to pay their past and present payments.
The Chinese mission to the UN explained that its acting vice ambassador, Yao Shaojun, spoke at a meeting of the budget committee of the General Assembly held on Thursday under the title “Improving the financial situation of the United Nations,” and stressed the importance of that all members meet their financial obligations, citing US delays.
“In the face of tremendous economic and fiscal pressure from the COVID-19 outbreak, China, the second largest contributor to the UN regular budget and to the peacekeeping budget, has managed to fully pay all of its contributions,” the mission quoted Yao. “This demonstrates China’s concrete support for the UN cause and the work of the secretary-general.”
The United States finances 25% of the UN regular budget, while China contributes 12%. Of the 193 member nations, 91 had paid their dues in full as of May 13. Beijing contributed $ 336.78 million to the regular budget on May 1.
Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for the institution, said on Friday that in the 2020 budget there are 1,620 million dollars receivable, in addition to 2,120 of the item destined for the peacekeeping forces, but he did not offer concrete data on the situation in the United States.
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