China lifts peacekeeping budget share amid warnings bodies like UN may be sidelined
SIPRI says Beijing’s participation in such UN missions helps ‘project an image of itself as a responsible major power’
China was the second-largest financial contributor to the UN peacekeeping mission after the US last year, with its share rising “substantially” as geopolitical tensions increasingly paralysed multilateral peace operations, according to a Swedish think tank.
“It was the the lowest level since at least the year 2000”, the report said.
“If things continue in this way, we could see a dramatic weakening of multilateral conflict management and the near-complete sidelining of institutions like the United Nations due to a perfect storm of funding, political and geopolitical factors,” said Jair van der Lijn, director of SIPRI’s peace operations and conflict management programme.