Why China’s global initiatives represent the reform the UN needs

When the General Debate of the UN General Assembly’s 80th session opened on September 23, the cavernous hall in New York was once again filled with the familiar spectacle: heads of state taking the rostrum, diplomats scribbling notes and the global press parsing every phrase.

But this year’s theme – “Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights” – rang painfully hollow. As delegates extolled cooperation, the world outside the glass walls at Turtle Bay seemed consumed by war, inequity and mistrust, not least with the devastation in Gaza.

UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock, who presides over this historic 80th session, was candid enough to warn that the UN is at a “make-it-or-break-it moment”. Her speech framed this year’s session in terms of survival, rather than celebration.

Yet Baerbock, who previously served as Germany’s foreign minister, embodies the contradictions at play. Germany has been one of Israel’s principal suppliers, accounting for roughly a third of Tel Aviv’s imports between 2020 and 2024, according to SIPRI.

Only recently, Berlin announced a suspension of arms exports for operations in Gaza – a gesture that seems more theatrical than substantive. Washington, meanwhile, towers over all others: 66 per cent of Israel’s weapons come from the United States. These two allies are not simply on the sidelines of Gaza’s destruction – they are its enablers.

On the very morning US President Donald Trump took to the UN stage, Israeli strikes killed at least 36 Palestinians. Moreover, during his speech, Trump denounced states that had recognised Palestine, provoked Europe, stoked racial anxieties and even questioned the UN’s mandate.

South China Morning Post