In full rivalry with China, the United States rejoined UNESCO. Washington had slammed the door of the UN agency under Donald Trump because of “persistent anti-Israeli bias”.
The United States has officially joined Unesco, which it left under the presidency of Donald Trump, after a favorable vote this Friday at an extraordinary general conference in Paris.
This desire of the Biden administration to reintegrate the UN agency is part of a general context of growing rivalry with China, while Beijing wishes to transform the international multilateral order put in place after the Second World War, including Unesco is an emanation.
“The Biden administration recognizes, in terms of power politics, that if you don’t participate in Unesco, you are giving up leadership or a prominent position to China.“explains Scott Lucas, professor emeritus at the University of Birmingham interviewed by euronews.
Don’t let Beijing occupy space
“This return of the United States to UNESCO will be the subject of a number of positions. The Chinese, through the Communist Party newspaper, are spreading messages that the United States is doing this just to try to gain advantage over us“, he continues.
132 states voted for the return of the United States, 15 abstained and ten opposed it, including Iran, Syria, Russia, and above all China, which had not yet recently opposed this reinstatement.
In March, the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken had estimated that the American absence allowed Beijing to weigh more than the United States on the rules of artificial intelligence (AI), when Unesco produced a recommendation on the ethics of AI from 2021.
“I really believe that we should come back to Unesco, not to give a gift to Unesco, but because the things that happen at Unesco matter“, he had declared.
“If you really want to say that you have participated in global cooperation on a range of issues, whether it is climate change, freedom of the press or technological and scientific progress, you must be part of UNESCO” said Scott Lucas.
Et “let’s be honest“, he adds, “for many years, the United States has been Unesco’s main funder and has much to contribute to Unesco in terms of cooperation” he suggests.
Turbulent history with Unesco
Since 2011, and the admission of Palestine into UNESCO, the United States, then led by Barack Obama, had stopped all funding for the UN organization, a huge setback for it, then that US contributions represented 22% of its budget.
Washington then left Unesco in October 2017 denouncing the “persistent anti-Israel bias” of this institution. This withdrawal, accompanied by that of Israel, has been effective since December 2018.
The American debt with this UN organization dedicated to culture, science and education, contracted between 2011 and 2018, today reaches 619 million dollars, more than the annual budget of Unesco, evaluated at 534 millions of dollars.
The United States has indicated that it has requested the United States Congress to disburse $150 million for fiscal year 2024, with an equivalent amount to be disbursed in subsequent years “until resorption“arrears at Unesco.
Countries opposed to Washington criticize this reintegration
They had already left Unesco in 1984, under Ronald Reagan, citing the supposed uselessness and budgetary overflows of the organization which they then rejoined in October 2003.
“The United States has already withdrawn twice from the organization. We don’t know how many more times we will have to “welcome” them.“, ironically, disillusioned, a North Korean diplomat, who was opposed to the use of this terminology in the UN resolution. A Russian diplomat for his part criticized the “privileged rights” as Washington arrogates.
“The way the United States requested this return is not acceptable” and is similar to “a violation of the spirit of the Constitution” of this institution, for his part castigated an Iranian diplomat.
2023-06-30 17:19:44
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