United Nations Photo: VCG

By hyping China's growing influence on the United Nations as "malign," the US is escalating its overall policy of containing China - from ideology to trade, and from high technology to rallying allies - further into international organizations, a move that will split the UN, bring no good to global multilateral mechanisms and undermine global cooperation, analysts said. 

The US will use its leverage in the UN to counter China's "enormous" and "malign" influence in the body, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday. 

The ambassador said that China promotes "an authoritarian approach to multilateralism," and the US will build an alliance to investigate the source of COVID-19 and address human rights issues related to China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Chinese analysts said that the US ambassador's remarks fully exposed the US' hypocrisy, since it is the US and not China that has been breaking the rules and acting irresponsibly in moving away from multilateral engagement. 

"The US has extended the containment of China further into international organizations, especially the UN, and it will ramp up efforts in oppressing China, as the Biden administration is working hard to 're-engage' the UN and international multilateral mechanisms to show 'America is back,'" Li Kaisheng, research fellow and deputy director at the Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

The US is enriching its "strategic competition" with China - from trade to high technologies and now to international organizations - and it is forging a wider-ranging front through alliances, Li said. 

Li said that the US attempt to hype the investigation into the source of COVID-19 and so-called human rights issues in China's Xinjiang, which aim to sow discord between China and other countries as well as hurt China's reputation, will get no support from the UN, and few member states will follow it. 

Under former president Donald Trump, who turned his slogan of "America first" into action, the US withdrew from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in October 2017 and June 2018, respectively. 

However, the Biden administration returned to the UNHRC in February as an observer and will seek election for the 2022-2024 term. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US is seeking reforms of the "flawed" UN body and its previous withdrawal "created a vacuum" of US leadership, Reuters reported. 

China's contribution to the UN and international multilateral mechanisms has been witnessed by the global community and will not be wiped out even with the US' claims of "malign" influence, Li Dongyan, a research fellow from the Institute of World Economics and Politics of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who studies the UN and international organizations, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

Li noted that China's growing influence is in accordance with its consistent contributions to safeguarding the multilateral mechanism of the UN. The US hyping of China's influence on international organizations as well as the US' efforts to form "small circles" within the UN will split the body and undermine international cooperation, he said.