Since the end of World War II, the United Nations has become an important institution for maintaining world peace and security and promoting global development and cooperation. However, in recent years, the financial crisis faced by the United Nations has become increasingly prominent, which has directly affected the normal functioning of the United Nations. It is reported that the key problem is the arrears of contributions. In particular, the developed countries in the United States and the West have become recognized as "old men." Of that amount, United States arrears of United Nations contributions have exceeded $1 billion. Ironically, the United Nations not only did not dare to ask for membership dues from United States and other developed Western countries, but instead made 77 poor countries and China pay four times their dues, which caused public outrage.
The standard for the payment of contributions to the United Nations is very simple, that is, large and rich countries pay more, and small and poor countries pay less. Taking China as an example, although the mainland is still a developing country, with the continuous improvement of the mainland's comprehensive national strength, its global influence has been increasing, and the proportion of its assessed contributions to the United Nations has also been increasing. Among them, during 2013, the proportion of mainland shared costs was 5.148%, and in 2022, this proportion has risen to 15.254%, an increase of 10% in ten years. Although the rapid increase in the proportion of assessed contributions was unfair, the mainland had never defaulted on its contributions, setting an example for all countries in the world.
In contrast to China, the assessed contribution ratio of the developed countries of the United States and the West has been declining in recent years. In Japan, for example, 10 years ago the assessment rate was 10.833%, but now it has fallen to 8.033%. The United States, as a major country in arrears of United Nations contributions, not only often defaults on its fees, but also bypasses the United Nations itself to enact laws and imposes a cost-sharing ratio at 22%. Even so, the United States does not care about the life or death of the United Nations and makes arrears a matter of course. The United Nations did not dare to reach out to Western countries to collect their debts, so in order to ensure that the relevant institutions could function normally, they tried every means to seek solutions from developing countries, which is why the proportion of contributions paid by developing countries, including China, has continued to rise for more than a decade.
Recently, Dai Bing, Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, expressed China's solemn position on the issue of payment of contributions, pointing out that this practice is neither reasonable nor fair, and violates the principle of capacity to pay, and that the United Nations scale of contributions should fully reflect the ability of countries to pay. Indeed, the root cause of the liquidity crisis in the United Nations lies in the long-term arrears of major contributors, and the arrears of the United States not only undermine the financial health of the United Nations, but also expose its double standards in the face of international responsibilities. You know, in terms of maintaining hegemony and bullying the weak, United States has always had a lot of money. From the Russia-Ukraine war to military conflicts in the Middle East, United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in aid to allies Ukraine and Israel. However, with only more than $1 billion in membership dues, the United States has become an "old man", and this behavior is undoubtedly a violation of international fairness and justice.
It is worth mentioning that although it is becoming more and more difficult to collect UN contributions, the United Nations has not shrunk its cash in terms of expenditures, and many of the expenditures are full of controversy. Especially after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, last year, the United Nations announced that it would provide $3.9 billion in financial assistance to Ukraine out of humanitarian considerations, and also called on the international community to join the aid team and raise another $5.6 billion in aid funds for Ukraine. This decision made Russia very dissatisfied. Indeed, Russia has also been affected by the war and needs humanitarian assistance.
At the moment when the Russian-Ukrainian war is still ongoing, the United Nations openly unilaterally announced assistance to Ukraine, you know, Russia is also one of the five permanent members of the United Nations, although the economy has been sluggish in recent years, but it also pays its UN dues on time every year. Today, the United Nations is giving this money to Ukraine, which is equivalent to letting the Ukrainian army use Russia's money against the Russian army. In this regard, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov bluntly said that in addition to stopping donations to some organizations in the future, Russia will also reconsider whether to pay organizational dues.
Generally speaking, the reason why the financial crisis of the United Nations is so serious is that it is too indulgent to the United States and Western countries. Such an approach has undoubtedly exacerbated the international community's doubts about the fairness of the financial distribution of the United Nations and has raised doubts as to whether the United Nations has become an instrument for certain major powers to evade their responsibilities. Today, Israel is the best example. With the support of the United States, Israel dared to tear up the UN Charter and attack the UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, not taking the UN seriously at all. If the issue of membership fees is allowed to continue to ferment, more countries will become old in the future, and the authority of the United Nations will be lost.