China’s influence at the UN has ensured a conspiracy of silence when it comes to Hong Kong

In the seven months since Beijing introduced the National Security Law in Hong Kong, the Chinese Communist Party has steadily stripped away the most open and international city in Asia turning it into a shell of its former self. Outlawing freedom of assembly and free speech, with those who dare to criticise the regime or champion its previous promise of democracy arrested and facing 10 years to life in prison.

In the face of this rapid decline of freedom, individual liberty, and the rule of law, the UN Secretary General’s silence when it comes to Hong Kong is palpable. Despite a steady flurry of press statements from his office criticising human rights abuses all over the world, Antonio Guterres cannot muster even the most basic condemnation of a draconian law that not only breaches basic rights but an international treaty lodged at the UN.

To an outside observer this silence may seem damning, but a closer examination of Mr Guterres background and an analysis of China’s growing influence at the UN may explain why the former Prime Minister of Portugal prefers praising the Chinese Communist Party leaders rather than admonishing them for their human rights abuses.

Understanding the PRC’s support for Mr Guterres

Unlike the USA and UK, China offered early, clear and explicit support amongst the permanent members of the UN Security Council for Mr Guterres’s candidacy to take up the mantel of UN Secretary General in 2016. According to the Foreign Minister of Portugal, Augusto Santos Silva, this support was summed up by Chinese interlocutors at the time as based on the perception that Portugal’s foreign policy as “balanced” and also a recognition of the role Mr Guterres played as the Prime Minister who “honoured commitments” to China in ensuring the smooth handover of Macau back to Chinese rule in 1999.

After nearly five years in post, it is unsurprising that China’s support for Mr Guterres remains undimmed with the Chinese Government in January becoming one of the first major countries to back his re-election as UN General Secretary.

At a time when the US under Trump effectively withdrew from multilateral collaboration taking its ball and going home, Mr Guterres has eagerly welcomed increased finance and political support from the Chinese Government. With China increasing its contribution to the UN Regular Budget from $213.9 million in 2016 to $367.9m and increasing its contribution to the UN peacekeeping budget making China the second biggest financial contributor.

Outside of the headline increases in UN budget contributions, China announced in 2016 a dedicated 10-year $1 billion UN Peace and Development Trust Fund, which is personally overseen by the office of the UN General Secretary and a committee made up primarily of appointments by the Chinese Government.

The bespoke fund, which China contributes $20 million a year to, is directed to projects primarily dedicated to existing UN peacekeeping missions and to projects that meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals and China’s One Belt One Road project.

Therein lies much of the rationale for the Chinese Government’s strong support for Mr Guterres re-election. Under his leadership the UN has embraced the idea that China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which redirects global trade and expands developing countries dependency on China through large infrastructure projects primarily funded by debt, can be married up to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In effect it is the belief that by furthering the interests of the Chinese Communist Party, the UN can also further its own interests.

China’s influence throughout the UN

Sadly, this approach is not limited to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. When it comes to China’s ambition to control and monitor the flow of data as part of a ‘Digital Silk Road’, the UN is happy collaborator working with Beijing to fund and develop joint global data hubs based in China.

When it comes to the Chinese Communist Party’s desire to rewrite international rules and set new standards in key areas which favour party-controlled enterprises, the UN also seems oblivious to the risk. It fundamentally fails to understand that the growing number of Chinese appointments to head UN Specialised Agencies- the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations International Development Organization, the International Telecommunications Agency, and the Food and Agriculture Organization- are all in place to bolster the interests of the Chinese Government at the expense of international norms.

In the case of International Telecommunications Agency this has been well reported by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which has detailed how Huawei in the last few years has been given preferential access and opportunities to set global standards. Dr Melanie Hart, the China Policy Director at the Centre for American Progress has noted that Beijing has also managed to leverage the appointment of a Chinese head at the agency to decrease their dependency on foreign intellectual property and increase the royalties that other nations pay China.

Aside from bolstering the Chinese Communist Party in the race to control global standards, these Chinese Government appointments have managed to pursue a political agenda in direct contravention of the Standards for the International Civil Service, which states that, “in keeping with their oath of office, they should not seek nor should they accept instructions from any Government, person or entity external to the organization.”

Take Fang Liu, who prior to heading up the International Civil Aviation Organization worked in a number of roles at the Civil Aviation Administration of China. During her term she has stopped inviting Taiwan to the International Civil Aviation Organization’s assembly citing the UN’s observance of the ‘One China’ policy.

Wu Hongbo, who previously served as an official in the P.R.C Ministry of Foreign Affairs before taking up the role of UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs between 2012 to 2017, was even less subtle when he banned the head of the World Uyghur Congress from attending a UN forum in 2017 and then bragged about doing so on Chinese state television saying, “we have to strongly defend the motherland’s interests.”

Of course, it is hard to ascribe blame to individual Chinese officials. Like the wolf warrior diplomats, their primary concern is playing to a small domestic audience of party cadres back home and ensuring that the interests of the Chinese Communist Party they serve comes first. One only needs to look at what happened to Meng Hongwei the former Chinese head of Interpol, who was kidnapped and jailed on corruption charges in 2018, to understand the penalty Chinese officials face for deviating from strict party lines.

The consequences

In a few short years, the Chinese Government has capitalised on western malaise at the UN. In the absence of active participation, adequate funding, and a clear strategy from western countries, China has managed to grow its influence increasing its control of UN specialised agencies, expanding its allies on the UN Human Rights Council, and even winning over the UN Secretary General.

This has consequences. In the case of Hong Kong, Chinese influence at the UN has ensured a conspiracy of silence as UN institutions and member states ignore the destruction of the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the crushing of its autonomy. The UN Secretary General is unable to muster a condemnation of the National Security Law, let alone appoint a Special Envoy for Hong Kong.

Unless western countries are willing to concertedly engage and coordinate action across the UN and other multilateral institutions the situation is unlikely to change - and the silent complicity when it comes to the destruction of Hong Kong will become further entrenched.

Sam Goodman, Hong Kong Watch's Senior Policy Advisor