Are Chinese UN peacekeepers spies? Trump’s UN envoy sends out a warning

US UN envoy Mike Waltz on Wednesday warned that China has been using United Nations (UN) platforms, such as peacekeeping missions, for espionage.

At a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington, DC, Waltz said Chinese peacekeeping forces operating under the UN banner "serve a dual purpose", performing their duties effectively while also advancing China's political interests.

"I don't think for a second that they don't serve a dual purpose as eyes and ears on the ground for the Chinese Communist Party... In fairness to our Chinese colleagues on the Security Council, their contributions often are helpful," said Waltz, who previously served as President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser (NSA) until he was fired over the 'Signalgate' scandal.

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Without elaborating, Waltz said he could share specifics about the Communist Party of China's (CPC) weaponisation of the UN only in a closed-door briefing.

"But again, they can serve a dual purpose, and we are very wide-eyed to that issue," Waltz added.

Waltz was joined by Republican lawmakers in criticising the UN for purportedly failing to check China's influence operations.

Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania said that countries participating in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) tend to shift their voting patterns in the UN General Assembly to align more closely with Beijing after receiving Chinese funding.

"This is a voting bloc that's bought and paid for over time with these loans," said Perry.

Waltz's hollow warning about China

Waltz's remarks were the latest salvo from within Trump's orbit against the UN. Trump and his allies have been pursuing a coercive campaign against the organisation during his second term and have backed bodies such as the Board of Peace in an effort to push the UN towards irrelevance.

As part of this campaign, Trump has withdrawn the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) and a host of other UN bodies.

But experts have argued that Trump and Maga figures' criticism of China's growing influence at the UN and across the developing world is hollow because it is a direct consequence of Trump's withdrawal from international organisations such as the UN and development partnerships around the world.

As Firstpost's Madhur Sharma previously noted, Trump's America First nationalist stance and retreat from the world stage have given China an opportunity to deepen its influence not only in these regions but also within multilateral institutions where the United States is reducing its engagement.

Trump's allies initially suggested that withdrawing from Europe, shutting down US aid, ending development partnerships in Africa, and halting support for humanitarian programmes would enable Washington to mount a stronger challenge to China in the Indo-Pacific. But Trump has admitted defeat in the face of China and accepted the United States playing the second fiddle to Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

International relations scholar Tej Pratap Singh previously told Sharma that such an approach was always misguided and was likely to empower China.

Singh said that power does not remain in a vacuum and that if the United States leaves a theatre, such as Europe or Africa, China will move into it.

"Developing countries need assistance. If the United States withdraws, China will reach out to these nations and they will be glad to have Chinese support. China has been making inroads in Africa for many years and the US withdrawal is set to increase that. India has been countering Chinese influence in the Global South, but countering China requires joint efforts and, in the absence of US involvement, China is set to make significant gains," said Singh.