China’s financial contributions and large peacekeeping role helpful: UN president

United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) President Miroslav Lajcak has said that China’s continuous support and investment in the United Nations are “fundamental to the functioning and credibility of this organization,” particularly at a time when multilateralism is constantly challenged.

Lajcak said in a recent interview with Xinhua that China has been actively supporting UN peacekeeping operations. “China contributes more troops to those operations than all other permanent members of the Security Council combined. It is also the second-largest financial contributor to the peacekeeping budget. China is also playing a leading role in combating climate change and translating the 2030 Agenda into deeds, particularly through its National Plan for the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda and by aligning the 2030 Agenda with its national development strategy,” he said.

Speaking of China’s financial support to the United Nations, the president said that under the current scale of assessments, China contributes 7.921 percent to the United Nations regular budget (roughly $210 million yearly) and 10.25 percent of UN peacekeeping budgets (amounting to over $810 million yearly given the current level of peacekeeping activities).

“This makes China the second-largest financial contributor to United Nations’ peacekeeping operations (second only to the United States) and the third biggest contributor to the United Nations’ regular budget after the United States and Japan,” he said.

“So it goes without saying that China has a critical role to play, ranging from peace to development, and those are the areas where the United Nations and China should continue to enhance their cooperation,” said the president.

Lajcak also spoke highly of some of China’s initiatives and development concepts by saying that “China’s initiatives such as Belt and Road and (building a community with a) Shared Future for Humanity are in line with the spirit and value of multilateralism.”

“The United Nations can serve as a good platform for China to seek broader cooperation with member states,” the president added.