US Challenges China’s UN Influence, Backs Taiwan’s Global Role, Ambassador Waltz Says

‘We have seen the Chinese very aggressively leverage their funding with demands in terms of positions,’ Waltz said.

Mike Waltz, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and President of the Security Council for the month of March, speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the conflict in Iran at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on March 11, 2026.

The United States is pushing back against China’s influence at the United Nations, citing competition over staffing and leadership roles and support for Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, according to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz.

Speaking at a congressional field hearing on March 20, Waltz, who took up the U.N. post last year, said China was leveraging its contributions to expand its influence within the U.N. system.

“We have seen the Chinese very aggressively leverage their funding with demands in terms of positions. ... Where we’re most engaged are some of these other organizations that affect [American] industry,” Waltz said, pointing to U.N. specialized agencies of the International Maritime Organization, the World Telecommunications Union, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

“We are much more, I think, strategically and assertively, inserting qualified Americans into key leadership positions. Where I think we could do more is at the junior level, even at the intern level, where we’ve seen the PRC push their nationals, increasingly at scale, and we could do more on our side.”

Waltz made the remarks in response to questions from Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The ambassador’s remarks came the same day the committee released a report showing how China is reshaping the United Nations to advance its own strategic interests. Between 2005 and 2023, the number of Chinese nationals working across the U.N. system rose from 579 to 1,664, an increase of 187 percent. Some have taken on leadership roles, such as the FAO’s director-general, in order to “shape U.N. decision-making to align with China’s national interests.”

“It is exploiting the U.N., installing its own personnel in key posts, bankrolling initiatives to counter the United States, and deploying U.N. troops to secure its business interests,” Moolenaar said in a statement accompanying the release of the report.

Waltz also said it was important for Washington to show support for Taiwan, a self-governing island that is facing growing pressure from China.

“The continual support of Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations is a key part of our charge here,” Waltz said.

“The world benefits from Taiwan’s expertise and resources, addressing some of the most critical challenges, particularly with the technology that they bring,” he continued. “The U.S. will not advocate for partners that don’t also share this view in terms of their freedoms.

“The U.S. opposes, for example, China’s intentional misuse and mischaracterization of a resolution that was passed by the General Assembly here, 2758, that is part of China’s broader efforts to isolate Taiwan from the international community,” Waltz said. “We pushed back on that, I think, very forcefully and hopefully effectively.”

The CCP views Taiwan as part of its territory and rejects the island’s right to independent international representation, pressuring other governments to avoid formal diplomatic ties and blocking Taipei’s participation in global organizations.

In 1971, Taiwan withdrew from the United Nations after the U.N. General Assembly passed Resolution 2758, which handed Taiwan’s U.N. seat to China. Beijing often cites the 1971 document to falsely claim sovereignty over Taiwan and pressure other governments into accepting its “one China principle”—a position that differs from the “one China” policy followed by many countries, including the United States.

On March 21, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Ling Chia-lung issued a statement thanking Waltz.

“The international community must not allow any country to use politics to distort reality and exclude a democratic partner that is capable of contributing to the world,” Ling said.

Ling said that U.N. Resolution 2758 does not authorize any country to exclude Taiwan’s participation in the U.N. system or other international organizations.

The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry urged the international community to continue taking concrete steps to counter China’s distortion of the resolution.

“As a force for good, Taiwan will continue advancing its international participation and actively contributing to the global community, working together to safeguard peace, stability, and prosperity in the Taiwan Strait and the broader Indo-Pacific region,” the ministry stated.

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