NEW YORK – China’s top diplomat made thinly veiled jabs at US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy from the United Nations, using an address to criticise the US war on Iran and the administration’s approach to the global organisation.
“Any unilateral military actions that circumvent the council’s mandate are unacceptable,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on May 26 at a Security Council meeting he chaired to discuss the UN charter as well as international peace and security.
The minister spoke less than two weeks after Mr Trump met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, where the US president received a stern warning on Taiwan and scant help finding a diplomatic solution to the US and Israeli war in Iran.
Mr Wang also referenced US efforts to withhold funding from the UN, withdraw from dozens of its agencies and offer an alternative body with Mr Trump’s Board of Peace – which won endorsement from the UN Security Council as a Gaza-focused diplomatic initiative before Mr Trump suggested “it might” replace the global organisation that was founded in 1945.
“The UN is at the centre of the post-war international system – its role should only be enhanced, not weakened, and its standing upheld, not replaced,” Mr Wang said.
“Member states should fulfill their financial obligations with real actions.”
The senior Chinese official’s remarks took aim at US attempts to undermine and shift the UN’s priorities by withholding significant funding from the UN – moves that have prompted a financial crisis at the New York-based organisation.
The US has accrued roughly US$2 billion (S$2.55 billion) in outstanding dues to the world body and has repeatedly critiqued the organisation’s focus on issues such as climate change and gender equality.
Earlier in 2026, the Trump administration withdrew from 31 UN entities and 35 other international organisations.
Mr Wang made his comments as Beijing increasingly seeks to challenge the rules-based international order led by the US.
Mr Xi has framed his country as a stabilising force in a world thrown into turmoil by the American leader’s erratic approach to trade and foreign policy.
Still, Chinese officials have said they’re not seeking to overturn the UN system, with diplomats including Mr Wang calling for reforming and improving global governance to make it more “just and equitable.” BLOOMBERG
