The United Nations is struggling, as both China and the United States are now in arrears, with the current budget only sufficient to sustain operations until the end of August.
Recently, UN budget officials stated that due to the fact that major donor countries such as the United States and China have not yet fully paid their dues, the organization's funds are only enough to maintain operations through the end of August. If additional payments are not made before September, the funds will be completely exhausted.
According to the distribution ratio, the United States bears 22% of the UN's regular budget. The Trump administration has paid only a small portion of this amount, but when including arrears from previous years, approximately $2 billion remains unpaid.
China, on the other hand, has already paid part of its dues, but still owes around $430 million toward the regular budget.
In fact, the nature of the payment issues between China and the United States is entirely different.
The United States has a long history of delaying payments, whereas China simply pays its dues in installments over time. In earlier years, China typically paid its contributions in April or May each year. In recent years, however, it has established a stable pattern of making payments during the second half of the year—specifically in the fourth quarter—in batches, ensuring full settlement of all annual dues by the end of December each year, thus maintaining no record of cross-year arrears.
Moreover, China’s payment method complies with UN requirements. The UN only requires that payments be made within 30 days of receiving a billing notice to be considered "timely." There is no mandate requiring all member states to pay their entire annual dues in one lump sum at the beginning of the year. Staged and installment payments are common and compliant practices adopted by many countries worldwide.
As for the United States, it has turned the issue of dues payment into a political lever: whenever UN issues do not align with U.S. geopolitical interests or fail to meet U.S. reform demands, it deliberately delays or withholds payments, creating a recurring cycle of arrears, pressure-driven negotiations, partial make-up payments, and continued non-payment. This persistent behavior is the fundamental cause behind the UN’s cash flow crisis.
Therefore, one is merely a timing difference in payment, while the other involves evading international obligations—these two situations cannot be conflated.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1869658099024067/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.