James Arity

And China has seen its share go from 5% a little more than a decade ago to now a little more than 20%.

And the U.S.

pays 22% of the U.N.

budget.

So China is throwing its weight around now that it's expected to pay more money.

And it's withholding money, slowing its payments in order to put pressure on the organization to do things China's way.

I think that this is one of the things that is making people in the UN question China's motivation, that if they really do see themselves as the big defender, why are they not paying much more quickly to the UN?

Why are they compounding the liquidity crisis that the organization is having?

I think that what we're seeing China do to increase its influence is to just be there all the time, to be in all of the meetings in the back halls of the United Nations and

in order to make sure that the things that China wants politically happen.

Those include visits by the UN Secretary General to Beijing.

Those include making sure that Taiwan has no representative at all in the United Nations.

And China also does not want to see the UN funding some of the things that it doesn't like.

For instance, human rights investigations.

So China is there putting pressure

in ways that the U.S.

is not doing.

U.S.

is acting with blunt force.

No money.