United Nations' 'Pact for the Future' Raises Concerns Over Support from Chinese Communist Party

Adoption of the Pact for the Future

Last week, the United Nations and its member governments, backed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), adopted a significant agreement to give the U.N. more power and influence in global affairs. The controversial agreement, known as the Pact for the Future, outlines 56 actions for governments and international institutions to take in the coming years.

Key provisions include transforming global governance and further empowering international institutions across various issues, such as sustainable development, financing for development, science, technology, innovation, and digital cooperation. The pact also includes a Global Digital Compact to curb misinformation and disinformation and a Declaration on Future Generations that includes the 2030 Agenda climate goals, such as the phase-out of fossil fuels.

Reception of the Pact

U.N. leaders and top officials from the CCP celebrated the pact as a historic effort to create a better future for humanity and increase global cooperation on international problems. However, the agreement faced opposition from various quarters, including a coalition of U.S. lawmakers and grassroots leaders who criticized the pact as an effort to undermine national sovereignty and freedom.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul expressed concerns that the pact ignores the malign influence of the CCP within the global organization. He also criticized the pact for calling for increased public spending and vague action on various left-wing priorities without addressing urgent issues facing the U.N. today.

China's Role in the Pact

The CCP, which plays an increasingly powerful role within the U.N., boasted about its significant role in developing the pact. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described the pact as an effort to galvanize the U.N.'s collective efforts for world peace and development and to map out the future of humanity.

Argentina's Opposition to the Pact

On the other hand, the Argentine government officially distanced itself from the pact and the U.N. in general. Argentine President Javier Milei criticized the global organization's central role in prescribing what he called crimes against humanity in responding to the China-originated coronavirus. He also described the U.N. 2030 Agenda, which features prominently in the pact, as a supranational program of a socialist nature.

Concerns Over the Pact

The U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission has been sounding the alarm for years about Beijing's growing influence over key U.N. agencies responsible for funding and policymaking on a wide range of important issues. The Commission warned that Chinese officials use their positions in the U.N. to pursue China's foreign policy goals.

Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, described the new U.N. pact as a power grab of historic proportions. He warned that the U.N. secretary-general has arrogated to himself dictatorial powers upon his mere proclamation of an emergency, as defined by himself.

Free Speech and Free Press Concerns

One of the major components of the U.N. deal focuses on U.N. governance of artificial intelligence (AI), with the CCP supporting the U.N. in serving as the main channel in AI governance. Critics are also concerned about the targeting of free speech in the Global Digital Compact, approved as an annex to the Pact for the Future. The compact calls for drastically scaling up efforts to combat hate speech, discrimination, misinformation, disinformation, and more.

Global Censorship and Misinformation

Global censorship about the COVID-19 pandemic, with YouTube removing content that went against the World Health Organization’s pronouncements, has been cited by opponents of the plan as an example of the threat. The U.N. has also become more aggressive on this front, with U.N. Undersecretary-General for Communications Melissa Fleming announcing a partnership with Google to combat distorted information.

Threat to Sovereignty

Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers and co-chair of the Sovereignty Coalition, argued that controlling the narrative by suppressing dissenting voices is an unconstitutional violation of freedom of speech and a hallmark of totalitarianism. She also emphasized that censorship deprives both individuals and nations of their sovereignty.

Bottom Line

The adoption of the U.N.'s Pact for the Future has raised significant concerns about the potential undermining of national sovereignty and freedom, the influence of the Chinese Communist Party, and threats to free speech and press. The pact's implications for global governance, sustainable development, and digital cooperation have also sparked debate. What are your thoughts on this controversial agreement? Share this article with your friends and join the conversation. Don't forget to sign up for the Daily Briefing, which is delivered every day at 6pm.