A photo taken on September 14, 2020 shows the view of the United Nations headquarters in New York, the United States. The United States should shoulder responsibility, take the lead in fulfilling its financial obligations to the UN and act upon its commitment to multilateralism, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian.
According to the latest data released by the UN in May, the US owed more than $1 billion of dues for the UN's regular budget and over $1.4 billion of peacekeeping assessment.
As one of the UN's founding members and the largest contributor, whether the US has paid its full assessed contributions is important to the normal operation of the UN.
The payment is important for the US to fulfill its international obligations and practice multilateralism, Zhao said.
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Since the 1980s, the US has owed the largest amount of dues to the UN since the 1980s.
In recent years, it has owes up to $1 billion, accounting for 60 percent or 70 percent of the total unpaid dues. The US owes the largest share of contributions for years in terms of peacekeeping assessment. In the year 2019 it owed $2.378 billion, accounting for 66 percent of the total unpaid assessment, Zhao said.
The United States refused to pay its huge arrears of UN budget, while the Biden administration promised a return to multilateralism and claimed to defend a rules-based international order.
How would the US respond to this? Instead of paying its huge arrears of regular budget and assessment, the US has been using financial means to fulfill its political agenda, pressure the UN and shift its responsibilities to other UN member states. What are the rules for the U.S. playing? He said something.
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The US side has missed deadlines for US assessment payment, but it has spent huge sums on waging wars, transferring weapons and fanning the flame all over the world, Zhao said.
How does the US define multilateralism? Is this defending a rules-based international order'' by the US standard? He asked.
The greater deficit in the US, the longer the US would live with the label of the biggest debtor nation in the UN, as the arrears the US accumulates to the UN regular budget and peacekeeping assessment doesn't go away as days go by, Zhao said.
He said that the US should shoulder its responsibilities, pay its assessments in full and on time, make up for the arrears, take the lead in fulfilling its financial obligations to the UN and act on its commitment to multilateralism.
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