![\"\"](\"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Donald_Trump-300x173.jpg\")
International Desk: As President Donald Trump announces a halt in World Health Organization funding, accusing it of kowtowing to China over the coronavirus outbreak, Beijing is building on a well-established strategy of leveraging its global standing wherever the US lets go of the wheel.<\/p>\n
For years, Chinese nationals have been taking up positions at the head of and lower down UN agencies as the Asian powerhouse ploughs considerable resources into building on its international financial and military relationships.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s long game on global influence is particularly apparent in Africa, where 10 years ago the continent\u2019s debt to the world\u2019s number two economy was minimal.<\/p>\n
Today, a UN official said, it stands at some $140 billion as Beijing ramps up investments through the Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi Jinping\u2019s signature global infrastructure project.<\/p>\n
Beijing\u2019s overtures have placed it in a powerful position to leverage African support on various issues and at international agencies.<\/p>\n
Led by Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO is accused by Washington of uncritically accepting China\u2019s early assertions that the virus was not spread between humans and of wrongly praising Beijing\u2019s \u201ctransparency\u201d over the magnitude of the crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we have seen for more than 10 years, and especially since 2012 with Xi Jinping, is a real push from Chinese diplomacy to restructure global governance,\u201d Alice Ekman, the senior analyst in charge of the Asia portfolio at the European Union Institute for Security Studies, told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lofty ambition since China is talking about \u2018piloting\u2019 this restructuring.\u201d<\/p>\n
The same phenomenon \u2014 the US withdrawing and China making its mark, but never directly \u2014 is notable at several UN agencies.<\/p>\n
Along with its availability for an increasing number of peacekeeping missions, Beijing has become the second largest financial contributor to the UN, overtaking Japan but behind the US.<\/p>\n
Away from the UN\u2019s activities directed from its New York headquarters, China has wielded its financial clout in the organization\u2019s many agencies worldwide, including UNESCO in Paris.<\/p>\n
Washington\u2019s retreat since 2019 from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, over alleged bias against Israel, came as China was increasing its influence to become the agency\u2019s largest compulsory net contributor.<\/p>\n
Beijing has a strong presence in programs for the education of women and girls, and the second highest official at UNESCO, Xing Qu, is Chinese.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have succeeded in finding a balance \u2014 being very present without imposing,\u201d an official told AFP, on condition of anonymity so that they could speak frankly.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Void \u2013<\/p>\n
For many UN officials across the world, the void left by the withdrawal of some of the most influential players on the international stage spells danger ahead for the organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the US not leading internationally, with Europe disappearing into itself and China pursuing its own interests, we really are in trouble,\u201d Catia Batista, associate professor of economy at Nova University in Lisbon, told The Washington Post. Chinese has also flexed its muscle at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) based in Montreal.<\/p>\n
In 2019 Qu Dongyu, a former Chinese minister, became the head of the FAO, while ICAO has been co-managed since 2015 by another Chinese official, Fang Liu.<\/p>\n
Beijing\u2019s influence is \u201creal and growing\u201d at ICAO, which governs global air transport, a specialist close to the agency said.<\/p>\n
The source said Beijing is now the second-highest financial contributor to ICAO after Washington.<\/p>\n
Since last year Washington has suspended financial contributions to ICAO in an attempt to accelerate reform.<\/p>\n
But while US officials use their contributions for leverage, the tactic is not part of a broader attempt to abandon the UN as a whole, the source says.<\/p>\n
At UNESCO a similar leverage of US cash for influence has not led to revolutionary reform \u2014 but it remains to be seen how Trump\u2019s suspension of funding will affect the WHO.<\/p>\n
In Vienna, major Western powers have shown little interest in the UN Industrial Development Organization, a small agency which aims to promote inclusive and sustainable industrial development.<\/p>\n
Eyeing an opportunity, China has used this apathy to use UNIDO as a stepping stone for its ascent in other UN agencies.<\/p>\n
Another former Chinese minister, Li Yong, has been UNIDO\u2019s director general since its establishment 2013.<\/p>\n
As for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Washington is the lead financial contributor, ahead of China.<\/p>\n
The US says it has not lost influence despite the pullout by Trump from the 2015 accord reached between major powers and Iran over its nuclear program.<\/p>\n
In reality, China is now in the driving seat, with Russia and the Europeans also taking up positions of influence.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the election of Donald Trump, China strengthened its position as a guarantor of multilateralism,\u201d Ekman said, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic was another chance for Beijing to \u201cinvest in global governance in all directions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ekman described China\u2019s approach as a \u201cpragmatic and global\u201d strategy in which the WHO is \u201cjust one institution among many.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the long run, China would like to see the advent of post-Western global governance, in which China would play a central role,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International Desk: As President Donald Trump announces a halt in World Health Organization funding, accusing it of kowtowing to China over the coronavirus outbreak, Beijing is building on a well-established strategy of leveraging its global standing wherever the US lets go of the wheel. For years, Chinese nationals have been taking up positions at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":58555,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n