China goes after U.S. over more than $1B owed to UN

UNITED NATIONS >> China is going after the United States over more than $1 billion that President Donald Trump’s administration owes the United Nations in unpaid dues for its regular operating budget and arrears for the separate budget for the U.N.’S far-flung peacekeeping operations.

The unusual singling out of the U.S. nonpayment by China’s U.N. mission comes as Trump continues to accuse Beijing of not being open about the coronavirus when cases were initially reported in December and early January.

A U.S. Mission spokesperson said China “is eager to distract attention from its cover-up and mismanagement of the COVID-19 crisis, and this is yet another example.”

U.N. Secretary-general Antonio Guterres said in early April that the United Nations faced a cash crisis because of nonpayment of dues by member states, which has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

He said in a letter to the U.N.’S 193 member nations that “unpredictable cash inflows, exacerbated by the global crisis posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, seriously threaten” the U.N.’S ability to do its work. He announced a temporary hiring freeze and urged all countries to pay their past and present dues.

China’s U.N. Mission said its acting deputy ambassador, Yao Shaojun, spoke at a U.N. General Assembly’s budget committee meeting Thursday titled “Improving the Financial Situation of the United Nations,” and stressed the importance of all U.N. member nations fulfilling their financial obligations, citing the U.S. arrears.

“Facing tremendous economic and fiscal pressure from the COVID-19 outbreak, China, the second largest contributor to the UN regular budget and peacekeeping budget, has managed to pay all assessed contributions in full,” the mission quoted Yao as saying. “It shows China’s concrete support to the cause of the U.N. and the work of the secretarygeneral.”

The United States funds 25% of the regular U.N. budget, and China pays 12%.

Of the member nations, 91 had paid their dues in full as of Wednesday. China paid $336.78 million for the regular budget on May 1.