China’s Growing Engagement with the UN Development System as an Emerging Nation

While augmenting its volume of foreign aid by double digits since the beginning of the 21st century, China has also expanded from bilateral to South-South and triangular cooperation through various multilateral institutions to help bridge growing funding gaps for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda).
China is now the 11th largest funder of the World Bank’s International Development Association and second-largest contributor to the UN’s regular and peacekeeping budgets. “With its power and authority steadily increasing, China attaches great importance to the UN’s role in promoting global development and is working with the organization to align its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with the 2030 Agenda,” writes MAO RUIPENG in a new discussion paper.
China is providing more and more funds to the UN development system (UNDS), and in 2017, was its 13th largest funder. The past years have also witnessed China’s increasing voluntary contributions to UNDS agencies, particularly for humanitarian projects like those of the World Food Programme (WFP).
In May 2016, the Chinese government and the UN agreed that China would contribute US$200 million over ten years to set up the United Nations Peace and Development Trust Fund (UNPDF), one of the most significant recent contributions to the United Nations from any country.
As China deepens its engagement in global governance and development, its strategic motivation and rising influence within the United Nations and on international rules and norms are attracting the world’s attention.
China’s shares of core funding and assessed contribution in its total UNDS funding are much higher than traditional donor countries, MAO writes in ‘China’s Growing Engagement with the UNDS as an Emerging Nation: Changing Rationales, Funding Preferences and Future Trends’, published by the German Development Institute.
However, the share of non-core funding has also jumped. While China tends to mostly provide funds for UNDS development projects, in recent years, it has even been hiking funding for humanitarian assistance.
The discussion paper also examines three cases of China’s earmarked funding – to the United Nations Development Program and the WFP, which receive the largest share of its UNDS funds, as well as for UNPDF operations.
There are several reasons for China’s growing engagement with the UNDS, from evolving perception of foreign aid and appreciating the UN’s multilateral assets to fostering the reputation of ‘responsible great nation’ and pushing forward the BRI through cooperation with the UNDS, the author states.
“Today, multilateralism is on the wane, and many countries are looking inward. China, however, continues to advocate multilateralism, fully acknowledging the UN’s authority in global governance and endorsing the UN Charter as the basis for the international order,” MAO writes.
China views its advocacy for the principles of broad consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits in global governance as consistent with the basic principles of multilateralism, according to the author. China also believes that most countries support multilateralism and resent unilateralism and protectionism.
“By supporting multilateralism China is able to promote relationships with other developing countries – as well as most Western ones,” MAO writes.
In general, China continues to integrate into the global development system and can be expected to maintain its support for the UN and continue to contribute to the UNDS.