>UN
thediplomat.com/2020/04/how-china-is-remaking-the-un-in-its-own-image/
Currently, four of the 15 UN specialized agencies are headed by Chinese nationals, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDP), and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). And with its contribution rising to 12 percent of the UN regular budget, passing Japan at 8.5 percent, China is currently the second-largest monetary contributor to the UN.
Since 2007, the position of under-secretary-general for the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) has been held by Chinese career diplomats, giving the Chinese government opportunities to reshape the UN’s development programs in accordance to its interests. According to the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), China has been promoting its BRI under the guise of SDGs. Liu Zhenmin, the incumbent head of DESA, openly claimed that the BRI serves the objectives of the SDGs at a high-level symposium. DESA also endorsed the China-funded program, “Jointly Building Belt and Road towards SDGs,” approving the BRI’s effect on achieving the Goals. Moreover, UN Secretary General António Guterres, assured that the UN system stands ready with Beijing to achieve the SDGs at the 2017 Belt and Road Forum.
Although the UN, as a whole, welcomes China’s efforts under the BRI and looks forward to its achievements in the SDGs, what should be noted is that the BRI was never meant to be purely an international development plan. By studying the BRI’s blueprint, it is not difficult to discern China’s geopolitical ambition to build unimpeded connections across strategic nodes in the region. For example, the construction of the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone and its affiliated deep-water port under the BRI will grant China access to the Indian Ocean without passing through the Strait of Malacca and the heavily disputed waters of the South China Sea, where U.S. Navy warships constantly cruise. By unloading cargo at the deep-water port, cargo, especially crude oil from the Middle East, can be transported to Kunming by train, securing China’s energy lifeline in the case of armed conflicts.