China’s role at the UN - submission to UK Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry

Summary

In response to a call for evidence from the UK House of Common Foreign Affairs Committee for its inquiry into “International Relations within the Multilateral System”, Sam Goodman, on behalf of the CSRI, put forward several recommendations for the UK to have a more robust approach to UN-led and other multilateral institutions. Goodman makes the following recommendations:

• The UK should give its Mission at the United Nations significantly more resources to properly counter the influence and behaviour of authoritarian states in order to protect its own interest and standing in multilateral institutions.

• The UK Mission at the United Nations in New York and Geneva should have a dedicated office for monitoring and coordinating support for candidates running for election to international standard-setting bodies in multilateral institutions. This unit should work with democratic partners to ensure that candidates of authoritarian states do not control important international standards-setting bodies, and could include working for the election of more UK Global South partners to these bodies.

• In response to any reduction in US funding to multilateral institutions following a potential return of Trump to the US Presidency, the UK must work with partners to plug the reductions by democratic partners to avoid allowing authoritarian regimes to gain a stronger foothold at the United Nations and its specialised bodies.

• The UK Government must do more to offer a coordinated alternative to China’s One Belt and Road Initiative. In the specific case of African countries, the UK Government should consider:

  • Using the UK-Africa Summit to discuss how the UK can tailor its aid and investment programmes to support African countries and counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

  • Committing to restarting the Africa Commission and set an ambition for the Commission to report recommendations within the next two years on how the UK can ensure its aid program matches expectations from civil society and the governments of African countries.

  • Reinstating the target for the UK to be the number one G7 trade partner with key African countries, including Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.

  • Prioritising pushing for debt relief as a key pillar of the UK’s response to the Belt and Road Initiative. This includes using the UK’s membership of multilateral organisations such as the IMF and World Bank to free up additional development spending and restructuring of debt and loan obligations for developing countries.

• The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office should publish a strategy on UK engagement with BRICS countries. This strategy should clarify that maintaining the US dollar as the global financial reserve currency is in the UK's economic and foreign policy interests.

• The Treasury should publish an economic assessment of the US dollar's value as the global financial reserve currency for the City of London and the wider UK economy.

• The Cabinet Office should review rules and restrictions regarding former UK officials and Ministers serving in mini-lateral groupings directly opposed to UK foreign policy interests.