Japan Raises Its UN Presence to Counter China's Influence

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A record number of Japanese nationals are working for United Nations agencies around the world.

This growth is the outcome of a five-year plan to install experts in key positions in the sprawling international organization and to counter what Tokyo perceives as China using the UN to exert greater influence over other nations.  

While the experts, analysts and bureaucrats who work for the UN are meant to be non-partisan in their decision-making, Japan is among the nations that have become concerned that instead of remaining neutral, China is utilizing the UN to further its own geopolitical aims.

Some Japanese observers say that while Beijing uses vast amounts of aid to woo developing nations and is rapidly expanding its military capabilities, diplomacy through a multilateral organization such as the UN gives it another tool with which to sway other nations.

Chinese UN staffers pursuing Beijing's interests?

"China wants to have a number of UN staff that they feel is representative of their population and the amount of money they contribute," said Stephen Nagy, a professor of international relations at Tokyo's International Christian University.

"And they have been trying, with a lot of success, to get their people on many of the most important committees," he told DW, adding: "Staff at the UN are supposed to work for the UN, but many people there fear that Chinese staffers are busy advancing China's interests, blocking action against Beijing."

One area that Beijing has been particularly sensitive about is criticism of its human rights record against the Uyghur ethnic minority in Xinjiang.

Critics accuse China of attempting to cover up abuses and of interfering in the drawing up of a UN report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which was published in August 2022 after months of unexplained delays. The document detailed serious human rights violations in Xinjiang, but Beijing has consistently denounced its findings as fabrications.

In July 2024, a report issued by the UN Watch NGO claimed "the UN is broken" after another review of its human rights record.

The report added, "China and other autocracies have hijacked the mechanism to create a platform for dictators to shower each other with praise and legitimize their rules as sanctioned by the UN."

While the US and the United Kingdom criticized China in the UN Human Rights Council meeting, Russia, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Tunisia and Algeria praised Beijing's "promotion of development and diversity in Xinjiang."

Tokyo pushes back

Nagy said Japan is pushing back in the only way it can.

"Japan is responding because it clearly feels that leadership within the UN is in decline and that it needs to bolster its own presence and make the organization more effective again," he said.

Japan's Foreign Ministry announced on December 9 that 979 Japanese nationals were employed at UN agencies as of the end of 2024, the highest since records were first collated in 1990. The total is closing in on the target of 1,000 employees by this year, as announced in 2021.

Japanese nationals are also increasingly in influential positions, with a record 94 at the deputy director level or above at 44 UN agencies.

In contrast, however, there were 794 Chinese employed by the UN in 2009, a figure that had increased to 1,647 in 2023, according to data from the UN website.

Tokyo was motivated to ramp up its UN presence in early 2021, when Chinese nationals headed four UN bodies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Telecommunications Union and the International Civil Aviation Organization. Similarly, nine of the 15 UN agencies had Chinese deputies.

Japan's National Security Secretariat and the Foreign Ministry were charged with developing personnel with the required skills to take on global leadership roles and reverse the sidelining of Japan.

Tokyo is also working hard to attract a greater international presence to Japan. The UN University is already headquartered in Tokyo, but the city is also lobbying hard to be selected to host the Asia branch of the International Criminal Court, which is based in The Hague.

Japan, an 'idealistic nation'

Others suggest that Japan is primarily motivated by a desire to play its part rather than to counter the growing influence of other nations.

"Japan is an idealistic nation and, since it was formed, has had the belief that the UN would be ready to step into any situation at any time," said Hiromi Murakami, a professor of political science at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.

"Even if that view is outdated, Japan still expects the UN to be able to step in to solve crises," she said. "Japan wants to be involved in that and the best way to do that is through increasing our presence within the organization," Murakami added.

"And I think Japan will continue on this course under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi as she has a similar vision for Japan going forward."

Read: US Backs Japan in Row with China over Okinawa Radar Incident

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