Applied Analysis of U.S.-China Strategic Competition in the UN System 2017-2022

Al Asad Ali ORCID: 0009-0001-0220-8951 Graduate student of the Department of Theory and History of International Relations, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 117198, Russia, Moscow, Miklukho-Maklaya str., 10/2 ali.99.al.asad@gmail.com

Tsimashchenia Viachaslau Andreevich ORCID: 0000-0002-0961-2244 Graduate student of the Department of Theory and History of International Relations, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 117198, Russia, Moscow, ul. miklukho-Maklaya, 10/2 v.timoshchenya@gmail.com

Introduction

The strategic rivalry between the United States of America and the People's Republic of China for leadership in the modern world is becoming one of the key factors determining the development of international relations. The competition of these countries is unfolding in many directions – in the military ^[1],[2],[3], economic ^[4],[5],[6], technological spheres ^{[7],[8, [9]}. However, one of its most important aspects is the competition for influence in international organizations ^{[10],[11],[12]}.

The UN remains a unique universal international structure designed to develop common approaches to solving global problems. Control over this organization makes it possible to shape the agenda of world politics in many ways ^[13],[14]. In the first decades of the UN's existence, the United States and its Western allies had such control. However, in recent years, China has been actively increasing its presence in the organization, seeking to challenge the status quo ^[15],[16].

The purpose of this article is to identify the features of strategic competition between the United States and China in the UN system in the period from 2017 to 2022 to identify key trends and patterns in the behavior of these countries in multilateral organizations. As a result of the conducted research, the authors intend to obtain new factual data and, based on them, draw reasoned conclusions about the nature of the rivalry between the two powers in international organizations at the present stage. This will deepen the understanding of the issue under study and contribute to the academic literature on this topic.

The applied analysis and the "Case study" method in this article implies consideration and evaluation of specific aspects of strategic competition between the United States and China in the UN system in the period 2017-2022. The authors of the article use this methodology for several reasons: to analyze the positions and roles of China and the United States in specialized agencies, as well as organizations "related" to the UN, – who heads these organizations, what influence countries have; to consider the dynamics of budget contributions of China and the United States to the UN – how the shares of countries in the budget of the organization have changed over time; to analyze the reaction of the United States and China to the UN on human rights issues in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang – who and which countries supported this or that position; and, finally, to assess the prospects for the development of China's multilateral diplomacy in the context of rivalry with the United States.

The use of applied analysis allows the authors to collect and systematize factual data on various aspects of rivalry in the United Nations; to identify specific trends and patterns in the behavior of China and the United States; to substantiate their conclusions with factual data and examples, and not just theoretical reasoning.

In contrast to theoretical works, the authors consider specific practical aspects of competition in the UN system – management of organizations, financing, responses to crises. This gives a more complete picture of the real interaction of the powers. Moreover, the article is based on an empirical base – data on budgets, speeches, and votes. This increases the objectivity of the conclusions. The authors not only state the current situation, but also make forecasts of further development based on applied analysis. Thus, this article contributes to the study of this topic due to its practical orientation. This makes the work more valuable both for the academic community and for specialists in the field of US-Chinese competition.

The main part

In October 2017, at the XIX Congress of the Communist Party of China, Chinese President Xi Jinping was re-elected to the post of General Secretary. In his speech at the congress, he announced several new concepts that were supposed to determine the further development of China's foreign policy. In particular, Xi Jinping urged to adhere to the principle of "Power Diplomacy with Chinese specifics" ^[17], aimed at strengthening China's international positions. He also mentioned the idea of "A new type of International relations" ^[18], implying the formation of a new model of interaction between states under the auspices of the PRC. Another important concept was the idea of a "Community of One Destiny" ^[19], designed to strengthen China's ties with other developing countries. Thus, Xi Jinping outlined a course to intensify China's efforts to strengthen its position on the world stage.

On June 22-23, 2018, the Third Central Working Conference on Foreign Affairs was held in Beijing, at which the concept of "Socialism with Chinese specifics" was put forward as a new diplomatic guide for China's foreign policy ^[20]. However, the most remarkable thing in China's foreign policy in the second term of Xi Jinping's leadership is the transition to active diplomacy. Xi Jinping's second term of leadership was also marked by the emergence of active multilateral diplomacy, which seeks to lay the foundation for new international norms and order focused on China ^{[21, p. 29]}.

Deng Xiaoping's "Xiaokan" policy was initiated in the post-Cold War era. In his speech in December 1990 Deng called for the hidden development of the state and stressed that this is a "fundamental national policy" that China should defend ^{[22, p. 96]}. Since then, the state has played a significant role in various international organizations, including the UN, but has distanced itself from the role of a global leader. This diplomatic orientation was largely preserved under the successors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao.

Under Xi Jinping, however, the Chinese policy inherited from Deng Xiaoping has changed. China gradually expanded its influence and occupied leading positions in major international organizations and systems. One of the most striking examples of this shift is China's growing influence in specialized UN agencies, where the state is increasingly beginning to take leadership positions. In total, there are 15 specialized agencies in the UN, of which the United States, which occupies a hegemonic position in the international community, currently heads only one – the World Bank, and China – four (Table 1).

Table 1 – Secretaries-General/Heads of specialized agencies and UN-affiliated organizations and their nationalities (as of February 2023)

Source: compiled by the authors based on information from Specialized Agencies // United Nations URL: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/specialized-agencies (accessed: 02/25/2023).

In the context of the strategic rivalry between the United States and China, the PRC under Xi Jinping is undergoing institutional transformations aimed at strengthening material and human resources to increase the importance of multilateral diplomacy, especially its influence in international organizations. A striking example of the intensification of work towards the revision of China's material resources can be an increase in its budget contributions to the UN and individual financial support. China's contribution to the UN regular budget is based on the economic performance of each member state, and thanks to stable economic development, China has become the eighth largest contributor to the UN budget from 1.54% in 2000 to about 3.2% in 2010. Since then, thanks to constant economic growth, China took sixth place in 2015 with a share of about 5.1%, 3rd place in 2016 with a share of about 8% and 2nd place in 2022 with a share of about 15.25%, overtaking Japan with a share of 8.03% (Table 2).

Table 2 – UN Member States making the main contribution to the organization's budget (% of the total size of the organization's budget)

	2000	2010	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
USA	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22
China	1.541	3.189	5.148	7.921	7.921	7.921	12.005	12.005	12.005	15.25
Japan	19.629	Nota Bene About Bank details Partners Contact Information Private policy   For authors Agreements Author's area   Our Services Translation of articles Publishing Services Library   Other How to write an article? Journals in the list of the Higher Attestation Commission Mobile app   Our sites Aurora group s.r.o. © 1998 – 2024 Nota Bene. Publishing Technologies. NB-Media Ltd.