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(1/X) I’m starting a thread about China’s influence over @WHO. How’s this influence exercised? Here’s an article rightly suggesting that China’s influence isn't based on its financial contribution to WHO, which is relatively paltry (surprise, surprise!). https://www.institutmontaigne.org/en/blog/fighting-coronavirus-pandemic-chinas-influence-world-health-organization
(2/X) So how? I think the answer lies in the group dynamics of WHO members, which in turn influence the WHO leadership. In WHO’s 2017 election of Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was backed by the global south as well as China, which often poses itself as...
representing the interests of the global South. See this:
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/china-helped-put-man-charge-world-health-organization%E2%80%94-it-paying-136002. Although WHO’s ballots were cast in secret (we couldn’t see who voted what), I would be surprised if there had not been careful coordination between China & global South to ensure Tedros' victory.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/china-helped-put-man-charge-world-health-organization%E2%80%94-it-paying-136002. Although WHO’s ballots were cast in secret (we couldn’t see who voted what), I would be surprised if there had not been careful coordination between China & global South to ensure Tedros' victory.
(4/X) Tedros won the election with 133 votes out of 186, becoming the first WHO Director-General from Africa. This suggests that China’s influence is exercised through its alliance with the global South, which is a pattern in other int'l institutions as well, not just WHO.
(5/X) For example, in the int'l human rights field, China has also formed a strong coalition with the so-called “Like-Minded Group”, consisting mostly of authoritarian & developing governments. The Like-Minded Group is very influential in the UN Human Rights Council and ...
(6/X) ...often puts western democracies in the minority when it comes to voting. My article last year on "China’s Challenge to the International Human Rights Regime" discussed this dynamic between China and its allies. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3308205.
(7/X) @tingdc Andrea Worden has also written about China's influence on the int'l human rights system, with the latest one here: https://chinachange.org/2020/02/19/the-2019-south-south-human-rights-forum-china-gathers-steam-in-its-bid-to-redefine-the-concept-of-human-rights/
(8/8) So, to study China’s influence in int'l organizations, we cannot ignore its political coalitions with global South & other authoritarian regimes. These politics, unfortunately, further entrench the global North-South divide, which is detrimental to the international system.
