appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Mark Magnier

Lawmakers called out China’s growing footprint at the United Nations on Wednesday as a vehicle for espionage even as a Congressional hearing over its funding descended into a heated partisan battle over the Iran war started by US President Donald Trump.
“The Chinese peacekeeping department is concentrated in strategically sensitive regions, including areas along Belt and Road [Initiative] corridors, near ports, mineral resources, and existing or potential basing locations,” Sheri Biggs, a Republican from South Carolina, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington.
“These are long-standing concerns about whether this designation is cover to advance military and intelligence objectives in regions where the US has strategic interests.”
Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, said that China’s peacekeeping forces are generally well-equipped and better prepared for UN missions than those of other member states.
“That said, I don’t think for a second that they don’t serve a dual purpose as eyes and ears on the ground for the Chinese Communist Party,” added Waltz.


Washington’s top diplomat in New York said that part of the US reform agenda included using its influence on the UN Security Council to streamline and downsize the South Sudan operation, an area where China has major energy and geopolitical interests.
“In fairness to our Chinese colleagues on the Security Council, their contributions often are helpful,” said Waltz, adding that further details would have to be covered in a secure briefing.
“But again, they can serve a dual purpose, and we are very wide-eyed to that issue.”
Waltz said that the administration has repeatedly countered China’s bid to sideline Taiwan’s role in the UN and efforts to squeeze the self-governing island’s participation in other global arenas.
“We have repeatedly pushed back,” said the former Republican Congressman from Florida. “We are fighting for participation in UN bodies across the board as a matter of US policy.”
Lawmakers, mostly on the Republican side of the aisle, meanwhile, slammed the UN over inefficiency, its poor record in ending wars and China’s influence.
“The Belt and Road Initiative countries shift their UN General Assembly voting patterns to align more closely with Beijing after the money arrives,” said Scott Perry, a Republican from Pennsylvania.
“This is a voting block that’s bought and paid for over time with these loans.”
But Waltz, who briefly served as Trump’s national security adviser before getting fired over an intelligence leak involving a journalist, said the world needed a place to meet and discuss, however much the institution needed reform.
“If we didn’t invent it, somebody else would,” he said, adding that a US presence is needed to maintain the Security Council veto and shape global standards. “And I don’t want to see a UN Beijing or UN Brussels or what have you.”
The Chinese embassy in Washington said Taiwan issues are China’s internal affairs and the committee’s claims are baseless.
“Countries make independent judgments at the UN based on the merits of each issue and their own national interests,” added embassy spokesman Liu Chang. “Such actions should not be distorted by certain individuals through the lens of Cold War mentality.”

On Wednesday, the former US Special Forces officer also came under heavy criticism for the Iran war, fuelled in part by the administration’s lack of transparency and the few officials it has put before Congress to defend its record.
Sara Jacobs, a Democrat from San Diego, the principal homeport of the US Pacific Fleet, grilled him on whether Americans were better off since Trump started the war, which has seen the strategic Strait of Hormuz largely blocked and gas prices rise above US$4 a gallon.
“Yes, the world and the American people are safer,” he countered. “Americans are better off with Iran not having a nuclear weapon.”
Waltz heaped praise on his boss who, reporting suggests, tapped few Middle East experts before launching with Israel air strikes on Iran in late February, terming Trump “a peace president”, and the UN a place “to help the United States deliver peace, share the burden, and advance an America first policy”.
Jacobs then fired back: “We are obviously not better off. This administration has just asked Congress for US$87 billion more to pay for this war. We’ve lost at least 18 American service members … you should all be ashamed. It’s very clear that Americans are not better off.”
Republicans and Democrats also repeatedly clashed over speaking time, whether witnesses were filibustering and whether Trump’s massive increase in wealth during his presidency was fuelled by corruption.
Waltz and Jeff Bartos, the US Representative for UN management and reform, said the administration has overseen a US$1 billion reduction in the UN budget, eliminated 4,000 positions and ended peacekeeping operations in Lebanon and elsewhere.
“We are putting the UN on a diet,” said Waltz. “Our charge is to make the UN great again.”


Xi to get presidential airport welcome from Trump during US visit starting Wednesday

Chinese province urges firms to seize the day as Xi-Trump meeting provides trade stability

Former WTO head Pascal Lamy on the EU’s China choice: get a rebalance, or go protectionist

US announces AI dialogue with China, launches Board of Trade

US-China relations

US lawmakers accuse China of using UN peacekeeping forces to spy on countries

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington on Wednesday that China’s UN missions also “serve a dual purpose as eyes and ears on the ground”. Photo: Reuters

US President Donald Trump was called “a peace president” by Waltz during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday that descended into a heated partisan battle over the Iran war. Photo: EPA

Unlike the US, China sees UN as the core of global governance

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi gives a speech via video link at the high-level segment of the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council, in Beijing on February 23. Photo: Xinhua

China’s Wang Yi tells UN multilateralism must be protected in swipe at US policies

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks to reporters at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump visit Zhongnanhai Garden in Beijing on May 15. Photo: AFP

China’s UN envoy blasts US ‘bullying’ as sanctions widen before Trump-Xi talks

China’s UN envoy Fu Cong warns US sanctions on Chinese firms over Iran risk undermining ceasefire efforts and the rule of law in international affairs. Photo: Reuters

News

Diplomacy

China

Chinese peacekeeping roles are ‘concentrated in strategically sensitive regions’ to gain intelligence, House Foreign Affairs Committee told


Chinese peacekeeping roles are ‘concentrated in strategically sensitive regions’ to gain intelligence, House Foreign Affairs Committee told.


US lawmakers accuse China of using UN peacekeeping forces to spy on countries

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Chinese peacekeeping roles are ‘concentrated in strategically sensitive regions’ to gain intelligence, House Foreign Affairs Committee told

Chinese peacekeeping roles are ‘concentrated in strategically sensitive regions’ to gain intelligence, House Foreign Affairs Committee told